A new release you don’t want to miss in the Historical Fiction genre. Also this month’s Reese’s Bookclub Pick. Keep reading for my full review!
Synopsis
Nina de Gramont’s The Christie Affair is a beguiling novel of star-crossed lovers, heartbreak, revenge, and murder—and a brilliant re-imagination of one of the most talked-about unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century.
Every story has its secrets.
Every mystery has its motives.
“A long time ago, in another country, I nearly killed a woman. It’s a particular feeling, the urge to murder. It takes over your body so completely, it’s like a divine force, grabbing hold of your will, your limbs, your psyche. There’s a joy to it. In retrospect, it’s frightening, but I daresay in the moment it feels sweet. The way justice feels sweet.”
The greatest mystery wasn’t Agatha Christie’s disappearance in those eleven infamous days, it’s what she discovered.
London, 1925: In a world of townhomes and tennis matches, socialites and shooting parties, Miss Nan O’Dea became Archie Christie’s mistress, luring him away from his devoted and well-known wife, Agatha Christie.
The question is, why? Why destroy another woman’s marriage, why hatch a plot years in the making, and why murder? How was Nan O’Dea so intricately tied to those eleven mysterious days that Agatha Christie went missing?
My Review
“Where were you?”
“I can’t remember.”
The disappearance of Agatha Christie is a story many know and remember.
A woman lost for 11 days only to be found with a sense of trauma and amnesia.
But what drove her to flee?
An affair between her husband Archie, and mistress Nan, spark a grieving wife to run away without a plan.
Nan on the other hand, has a story. One that unfurls into grief of her own with a sprinkle of hope of starting over.
I loved this book. Nina da Gramont was a new author on my radar who didn’t disappoint.
She took a take on a a true moment in history and made it something much more.
Read if you love:
-the writing style of Taylor Jenkins Reid
-family drama
-the stories behind what’s left after war
-star crossed lovers
-new beginnings
-the power of being a woman, wife, and mother
-the country side of Ireland, and city life of England
-a bit of mystery
-historical fiction
Why I dropped a star:
While this story was based off of a true story, I always struggle with a story that is based around adultery. BUT please know while it is the backdrop and important, it is NOT the romance or even the main focus of this amazing book.
Also the ending felt a bit “strange”. I knew Nan was the narrator of her story, along with taking on her own “take” of different character POV, the ending of it almost being her book felt disconnected from the intro into the book. Although I did love the HEA aspect.
TW: some topics include adultery, rape, loss of a child, suicide while none of descriptive
Rating:
story-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
characters-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
steam- while this is a scandal…. this book is less than scandalous
Thank you St Martin Press for my Arc. I truly enjoyed it.
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