Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman

Agatha Christie (1890–1976) was a modernist, an iconoclast, and a groundbreaker, according to this excellent biography from historian Worsley (The Austen Girls). Worsley argues that Christie’s public image as a quiet Edwardian lady who happens to scribble mysteries was a “carefully crafted” persona, made in order to “conceal her real self” and her unconventional and oft-daring life: she threw herself into nursing work and archeological digs, was a divorced single mother, married a much younger man, loved fast cars, and built an extraordinary career. Born into a well-off family, Christie was a child full of joy who grew up to create a “character in which she could do what she wanted” and rally against the “restrictive social customs” forced upon upper-middle-class women. Worsley offers close readings of Christie’s work, including the spinster character Miss Marple, who may have “stood for Agatha’s own self.” As well, she presents a careful reframe of the novelist’s famous 1926 disappearance, positioning it as a turning point in which she “lost her way of life and her sense of self,” rather than the media-constructed narrative that it was a “jealous... attention-seeking” move. Drawing on personal letters and modern criticism, Worsley manages to make her subject feel fresh and new. This is a must-read for Christie fans. Photos. (Sept.)