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Agatha Christie
 
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Agatha Christie [Paperback]

Gillian Gill (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)


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Book Description

November 2000
This biography probes the private life and motivations of one of the bestselling authors of all time and discovers a brilliant woman whose passionate search for success was offset by an obsession for privacy. The breakup of Agatha's first marriage to Archibald Christie, and her subsequent 10 day disappearance, had made headline news. Feeling hunted and wounded by the press, Christie determined never again to let them into her private life. She affected a public persona, tongue-tied and dull, which ensured that journalists would let her be. This successful strategy assisted a happy second marriage and family life as well as an astonishing literary output. Author Gillian Gill has uncovered a unique and determined woman whose fictional creations sparked the imagination of millions around the world.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A teacher at Harvard, Gill specializes in modern fiction and feminist theory--the roots of her interest in the phenomenally popular British author/playwright. The well-known facts about Christie's life (1891-1976) support Gill's perception of the mystery writer as a lusty and adventurous woman. In Christie's fiction, the biographer finds clues to characteristics she believes were hidden by her intensely private subject. Gill succeeds in proving Christie was no prissy Victorian, as charged by some critics, and on the whole, this biography of the prolific mystery writer is extremely satisfying. There are, however, disappointments: for example, Gill glosses over the racist elements in Christie's early novels (amended in American editions), as did Janet Morgan in the authorized Agatha Christie: A Biography .
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-- Agatha Christie fans will delight in this skillful unraveling of the mystique of the world's most famous female mystery writer. Christie is a study in contradictions, a woman of physical and moral courage who all her life suffered from shyness so great that she allowed herself to be turned away unrecognized from a party in her honor. By using the writer's own techniques of detection, Gill is able to unmask much of Christie's past. This is no easy task, for Christie left her own autobiography and succeeded in controlling all other biographies in a determined attempt to preserve her privacy. By examining her novels closely and comparing them to events in Christie's own life, Gill sheds new light on the woman and the writer. Although Gill's treatment is scholarly and her vocabulary challenging, students of fiction writing and admirers of Christie's work will welcome Gill's insights into the creative process. Feminists, too, will appreciate how this reclusive Victorian rose above her own nature, influenced generations of readers, and maintained an exciting personal life.
- Jacqueline Gropman, Richard Byrd Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 242 pages
  • Publisher: Robson Books (November 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1861052529
  • ISBN-13: 978-1861052520
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,875,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gillian Gill, who holds a PhD in modern French literature from Cambridge University, has taught at Northeastern, Wellesley, Yale, and Harvard. She is the author of Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale, Agatha Christie: The Woman and Her Mysteries, and Mary Baker Eddy. She lives in suburban Boston.

 

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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4 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Goes deeper than the usual bios, August 26, 2000
By 
The author of this works shows how Agatha Christie's private life and the traumas she endured pushed her to go beyond the usual norms of mystery writing, surprising and enchanting her readers. Recommended for fans of Agatha Christie's writing, as it lends insight into her life and her work.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Thanks to Gillian Gill we are allowed a glimpse of our beloved Ms. Christie, September 14, 2005
This review is from: Agatha Christie (Paperback)
This book does a very nice job of rounding out the character of Our Agatha. Almost everyone living and breathing has heard of this famous mystery writer, but a fraction of those people know the events in Christie's life that created a basis for her most loved tales.

Gill's obvious respect for Christie allows her readers to enjoy reading this biography almost as much as Gill must have had in writing it.

One criticism would be that this book does tend to linger in the area of deconstruction of the style of mystery writing that Agatha Christie used in her many-decade career. The general idea of how a mystery is constructed is interesting, but a bit less of this would tighten up Gill's otherwise delightful biography.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Abysmal, April 28, 2010
This review is from: Agatha Christie (Paperback)
I completely agree with cattlovrr. Gave up after 50 pages. Dreadful. Felt like a vehicle to advance the author's feminist agenda; read like a pedantic, poorly edited term paper.

Read her books or The 8:55 to Bagdad (The 8:55 to Baghdad: From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie and the Orient Express by Andrew Eames -http://www.amazon.com/Baghdad-London-Agatha-Christie-Express/dp/1585678023) and enjoy the trip.
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