The 8:55 to Baghdad: From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie and the Orient Express (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Orient Express, World War, Agatha Christie (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Agatha Christie fans, as well as connoisseurs of fine travel writing, will relish British journalist Eames's gripping, humorous and eye-opening account of his train and bus trip across Europe and the Middle East on the eve of the second Gulf War. A chance stay in a Syrian hotel where Christie once stayed prompts Eames to attempt to follow in the bestselling author's footsteps. Despite the awkward timing, Eames (Crossing the Shadow Lines: Travels in South-East Asia) finds many friendly faces, even in Iraq, where a close call with a mysterious explosion curtails his journey. Admirers of the creator of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot will learn more about her relationship with the peoples of the region (Kurds, Armenians and Palestinians), as well as the real-life inspiration for her classic 1934 novel, Murder on the Orient Express: a blizzard that stranded the historic train for nine days in 1929. Especially engaging is the way Eames describes his traveling companions on the last leg of his odyssey as if they were the cast of characters in a typical Christie mystery. (May 31)
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From Booklist

In 1938, when she was 38, Agatha Christie took a 3,000-mile train ride on the Orient Express from London to Baghdad. Eames retraces her journey, describing many of the places and events that influenced Christie's fiction. Along the way, he offers some background on her early life: her father died when she was 11, she later married Max Mallowan, an archaeologist. Eames relates a brief history of the Orient Express and recounts his visits to Baghdad, Damascus, Trieste, Zagreb, Belgrade, Sofia, Istanbul, and other cities. Throughout, he writes about the people he met--fellow passengers, taxi drivers, hotel managers, guides, and military escorts--and the hotel rooms he stayed in. Armchair travelers will enjoy the journey. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 401 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (June 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158567673X
• ISBN-13: 978-1585676736
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #352,880 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remember When Baghdad Used to Sound Exotic?, October 5, 2005

By	takingadayoff "takingadayoff" (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Journalist Andrew Eames follows in the footsteps of Agatha Christie as he retraces her route from London to Baghdad on the Orient Express. Christie traveled to the Middle East many times and enjoyed her visits there. When she visited, before World War II, places such as Damascus and Cairo and even Baghdad evoked romantic and exotic images. Eames's journey takes place in 2003 when even Lawrence of Arabia might think twice about going.

Eames sleeps through the European part of the trip, eager to get to the more challenging Belgrade and Serbia and beyond. On the way, he recalls what it would have been like in Christie's time and observes what it is like now. Sometimes, as in the London suburb where he begins the journey, not much has changed. Often, as in Belgrade and certainly Baghdad, things are much different.

8:55 to Baghdad hurtles from familiar to exotic to frightening and back again. When things start to get too gritty and real in Serbia, Eames takes us back to the days of luxury aboard the Orient Express. When the company of pre-WWII upper class snobs threatens to become boring, we are whisked onto a bus to cross the border into Iraq on the eve of war in 2003.

All along the way, Eames recalls Christie's career and her life. She enjoyed accompanying her archaeologist husband to the Middle East and didn't mind roughing it from time to time. Roughing it back then meant camping out at a dig in the desert without running water. Roughing it in Baghdad in 2003 meant dodging bombs.

Even if you are not a Christie fan, there is a lot to enjoy in this narrative. The Orient Express, archaeology, modern history, travel essay, it's all here. It reminds me of Beyond the Blue Horizon by Alexander Frater, another British writer. In it, Frater sets out to travel around the world using only routes that Imperial Airways would have flown. Imperial Airways was the pre-WWII airline of the British Empire, so that meant Frater had to do a lot of puddle-jumping on small propeller-driven airplanes in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Both he and Andrew Eames mix past and present to come up with unique and memorable travel stories.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Appeals on many levels., September 8, 2006

By	J. Breen (Old Saybrook, CT) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Part travelogue, part history (of the Balkans and the Middle East, most notably), part Agatha Christie biography, the book satisfied this reader on all three levels. Eames sometimes tried too hard to coin meaningful metaphors, but those instances were easy to overlook. What wasn't easy to overlook was his mis-categorization of Syria as part of President Bush's axis of evil which, as far I know know, included Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. It seems that would have been a relatively easy fact to check. One suggestion for any future editions would be to include more maps, perhaps one at the head of each chapter. Overall, an extremely enjoyable read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect holiday read, August 1, 2005

By	Susanne Pleines "Susanne" (USA) - See all my reviews

This book is a real treat. A journey by train all the way from London to Baghdad, just before the invasion of Iraq. In the footsteps of Agatha Christie. At first sight it seems an odd mix of travel adventure and literary biography, and it does change pace regularly, just like the trains Eames travels with. But there are some real insights in here, and some great pieces of observational writing. I particularly liked the bits in Slovenia and Serbia, and of course the final bus trip across the desert to Baghdad. Highly recommended.