Book Review of The Christie Affair by Nina De Gramont

 

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A novel take on the disappearance of Agatha Christie.

This is a well-crafted novel based on a real-life mystery where the truth is unknown to anyone in the present day. As such the author can do more or less as she likes and her chosen course is an interesting one, showing the way that women tend to form alliances in stressful situations rather than making enemies. This is true, sometimes; it may even be true quite often, but it’s definitely not always true.

It will also be controversial in that the story suggests that Irish independence was, if not built on hypocrisy, far too tolerant of hypocrisy and injustice from the outset and for decades afterwards, right up to the nineteen seventies and in some cases beyond. Single mothers had fewer rights than criminals and institutions for them genuinely were worse than jails. The author tries to soften the blow by pointing out that England and the United States also had institutions of equivalent function, but these were never quite as bad, never had such a complete grip and certainly did not endure for anything like as long. Although, anyone seeking the Roman Catholic Church at its absolute worst on this particular subject in the 20^th century should look to Franco’s Spain and Galtieri’s Argentina and not Ireland.

This is a mystery story where the usual moral certainties have been altered: the men who have survived the Great War, even those in high authority, are perfectly willing to fudge the truth and even break the law in order to minimise actual harm while the “fallen” women are willing to break the law in order to obtain justice for themselves and their children, whether the latter are lost or dead. Crimes against humanity make other crimes seem perfectly reasonable.

This novel deals kindly with Agatha Christie whilst possibly taking liberties with the unknown facts, but it deals kindly from a 21^st century viewpoint. Which is why I can’t give it a five-star recommendation.

The Christie Affair by Nina De Gramont is published by Pan Macmillan (Mantle) on the 20^th of January 2022.