It is the September pick for Reese’s Book Club. The Christie Affair is a novel written by UNCW creative writing professor Nina de Gramot. The reader assumes all is well for the moment, settling into a realistic yet slightly messy world before evil rears its head. This technique allows the opening to retain its tension but avoid the pitfall of early reveals. Her relationship with Finbarr, a young Irish boy, seems to suggest a future payoff with multiple potential outcomes. For Nan, beginning her past’s narrative with her childhood visits to Ireland gives readers an innocent, whimsical impression of her character. For Agatha, the prospect of losing her husband is the most pressing matter, bringing a realistic tension to her surface relationship with Nan. While certain details in the opening chapter give striking hints, readers are likely to forget them until their return as the book’s grounded opening sweeps them in a seemingly different direction.ĭe Gramont makes an artful choice by beginning in both Agatha’s and Nan’s ordinary worlds. The approach she takes-jumping between the book’s present in Agatha’s disappearance and Nan’s tragic past-allows the plot to unfold without clear expectation. However, as the present and past collide, it seems that her connection to the Christie family runs deeper than the affair.ĭe Gramont pieces together a mystery so subtle that readers may not even see it coming. Nan’s backstory is interwoven into the narrative, giving readers what at first seems like a sympathetic glance into the mistress’ humble origins. Its events span from two days before the disappearance to Agatha’s discovery a week later. Despite its biographical appearance, though, the book is a fictionalized account told from the perspective of Christie’s husband Archie’s mistress, Nan O’Dea. “The Christie Affair” is set during the time of Agatha Christie’s infamous disappearance in December of 1926. Only a month since its release, it has become an instant bestseller, an exciting prospect for any author.
It currently stands as number nine on the New York Times’ best seller list of hardcover fiction after three weeks on the list. 1, aligning with the club’s centrality on female protagonists in literature.
Besides the famous author playing a titular role in the plot, the web Nina de Gramont spins in this fictionalized account of Christie’s disappearance is something Christie herself would applaud.Ī professor with UNCW’s own creative writing program, de Gramont makes her fourth appearance in the world of fiction with “The Christie Affair.” Reese Witherspoon announced it as her book club’s pick of the month the same day as its official release on Feb. If you are an Agatha Christie fan, this is the perfect novel for you. The Seahawk’s February book club pick “The Christie Affair” is a mystery that will keep you pushing off work for one more page.
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