Lucy Worsley’s Biography of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman is written by Lucy Worsley, OBE, Chief Curator at the charity Historic Royal Palaces and BAFTA award winning presenter of documentaries for BBC and PBS.
I’ve looked forward to reading this book for a long time, and I’m not disappointed. In fact I’m more intrigued than ever by Agatha Christie. This is a biography that has been thoroughly researched and is even-handed as far as sensitivity, respect for the subject, and for truth-telling. It doesn’t turn a blind eye to Agatha Christie’s failings, but presents her as a whole human being, a brilliant creative person as well as a product of her time and social class. It maintains a balance that feels solid and well thought out, sympathetic and at the same time objective, scholarly and fair. It’s also a delightful read.
A Vanishing Woman
There was a brief period in 1926 when Agatha Christie herself became the center of a mystery. She was grieving for her recently deceased mother, and at the same time facing a grave crisis in her first marriage, at which time it’s now thought she may have suffered a dissociative fugue state. She disappeared from her home.
Her disappearance was reported, and authorities investigated, at times keeping a close eye on her husband, Archibald Christie. They conducted extensive searches starting at the place where her car was found, damaged and abandoned. Searchers half expected to find a corpse.
One very large search by volunteers included mystery author Dorothy L. Sayers. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle presented one of the missing woman’s gloves to a psychic, who predicted that she would be found alive on a particular date.
She was eventually found and returned to the care of her family, but the mystery continued as to what had actually happened to her, why she had gone missing. A lot of speculation, much of it unkind, resulted in many believing that it was a publicity stunt or an attempt to make her husband look guilty. Only bits and pieces of what happened were made public. One of the most important things this biography does, in my opinion, is help clear that up. In this book much of that mystery seems to be resolved, pieced together from various sources the author was able to find. I feel convinced after reading it that Agatha Christie had an unfortunate mental health crisis, one that was not well understood, and because she and her family craved privacy it was never much spoken or written of by them.
A Happier Marriage
Her second marriage, to Max Mallowan, seems to have been a much better one for Agatha. She considered Agatha Christie to be a pen name in her later years and she preferred to be known as Mrs Mallowan. But she remained an elusive woman. She had a public life and a private life, kept carefully separate, and who can blame her? Sometimes someone takes up a line of work that brings them uncomfortably into the public eye, when for them it’s simply their work, what they enjoy doing, and only a portion of a life they would rather keep to themselves and their loved ones.
Greenway House
Agatha loved houses, and at one time when she was doing well she bought several houses in a short period of time, and enjoyed decorating them and collecting things for her homes. During the Second World War, one of her favorites was taken over by the military, and she was having tax problems at the time, so she had to rent out most of the others just to make ends meet. That house was more of a vacation getaway than a year-round home. Called Greenway House, it’s now open to the public, and owned by the National Trust.
A Woman Brought to Life
This is a biography that for me truly brings the woman — the legend — behind the mysteries to life. And oh, the photographs. What a wonderful collection of photos is included here, and it’s so delightful to see the laughter in those later years, once her home life at least became more stable. Mrs Mallowan seems truly happy.
The Biographer
If you haven’t yet read any of Lucy Worsley’s books, which I had not before now, you may be more familiar with her, as I was, from some of her documentaries for PBS or BBC. I’m mostly familiar with some of her work surrounding the life of Jane Austen, much of it from videos I’ve found on Lucy Worsley’s YouTube channel. But now I’m eyeing another book of hers, Jane Austen At Home.