Come, Tell Me How You Live (Common Reader Editions: Rediscoveries: LONDON) [Paperback]

Agatha Christie Mallowan (Author), David Pryce-Jones (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2002

Agatha Christie's memoirs about her travels to Syria and Iraq in the 1930s with her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan Agatha Christie was already well known as a crime writer when she accompanied her husband, Max Mallowan, to Syria and Iraq in the 1930s. She took enormous interest in all his excavations, and when friends asked what her strange life was like, she decided to answer their questions in this delightful book. First published in 1946, Come, Tell Me How You Live is now reissued in B format. It gives a charming picture of Agatha Christie herself, and is, as Jacquetta Hawkes concludes in her Introduction, 'a pure pleasure to read'.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Perfectly delightfulæ colourful, lively and occasionally touching and thought–provoking.” -- BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

From the Publisher

Agatha Christie was already a celebrated writer of mysteries when, in 1930, she married the archaeologist Max Mallowan. In the pre–war years thereafter, Christie enthusiastically joined her husband on various archaeological expeditions in the Middle East, and these shared adventures, these happy and memorable times, provided her not only with the background for several of her novels, but also with the “everyday doings and happenings” which she zestfully describes in the pages of this high–spirited memoir, which was first published in 1946. New Introduction by David Pryce-Jones.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: Akadine Press (August 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585790109
• ISBN-13: 978-1585790104
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and created the detective Hercule Poirot in her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). She achieved wide popularity with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and produced a total of eighty novels and short-story collections over six decades.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An easily digested hodgepodge of funny episodes, September 15, 2002

By 

Geert Daelemans (Leuven Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Come, Tell Me How You Live (Common Reader Editions: Rediscoveries: LONDON) (Paperback)

Several times Agatha Christie accompanied her husband Max Mallowan on his archaeological expeditions to the Middle East. When friends kept on asking how she lived there, Agatha decided to write her adventures down in this book.

The title, in fact, is a pun on "tell," the Arabic word for hill or mound, which is used in the Middle East to describe the hill-like shapes of buried archaeological sites.

This book is probably the most humorous book the detective writer has ever written. She not only puts her own fame in perspective, but also acts as a keen observer of those little things that make humans such funny creatures. Although you never lose the impression that most of the characters in this non-fiction book are caricatures of real people, it still gives you a plausible impression of how life strolled on in the Middle East at that time.

Do not expect a serious treatise on archaeological excavations, because you won't find any scientific information in this book. What you can expect is a rather messy hodgepodge of all-day situations that may bring a smile on your face. And that's fine with me, because that's all Agatha intended it to be: an easily digested chronicle written with love.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unpretencious, yet precious book, September 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Come, Tell Me How You Live (Paperback)

It's great to know that this book is available again to delight new readers with Agatha's travel diary.
Married to an archeologist, who worked mainly at that part of the world once known as Mesopotamia, Agatha has participated in many expeditions with her husband and team. Her book is about her day life at the camp, trying to manage the servants, struggling to develop photos of the objects in a suffocating studio, fighting her own shyness when it comes to talk to the expedition's architect. Piece by piece, she take us back to this almost mysterious past with her talent and good sense of humor.
Mine is an old edition, but when I feel a little depressed or sad, I always go back to its pages. It heals my soul. Every time.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charming look into Dame Agatha's other life, June 16, 2006

By 

Jeanne Tassotto (Trapped in the Midwest) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Come, Tell Me How You Live (Common Reader Editions: Rediscoveries: LONDON) (Paperback)

Agatha Christie was a prolific writer who churned out one or more books each year for decades. She was invariably on the Best Seller lists in several countries at any given moment, usually had at least one or more plays running in London and saw several films made from her novels. One would imagine her life as divided between writing her novels in some comfortable English country house or attending various events publicizing her latest work or supporting some worthy cause. Instead of this life in the public spotlight for many years she spent every winter 'season' accompanying her husband, Max Mallowan, on archaeological digs in the Middle East, usually living in primative conditions and assisting him with his work. This book is her description of that part of her life, where she was not Agatha Christie, the world famous writer but Mrs Mallowan, the boss's wife.

This chronicle, written and published against her agent's and publisher's advice was written shortly before WWII broke out and describes life on archaelogical digs in the Middle East. Christie gives us descriptions of areas that figure prominently in today's news, Beruit, Basura, Afghanistan. Events that shape present day headlines are recent events at this time, the Armenian massacres for example. While Christie mentions these larger events her focus is on the day to day lives of those around her, the interactions of Europeans, Arabs, Kurds and others. She describes a time when a twenty five mile trip into the nearest town could take two or more days, and where communication was almost nonexistent. In this exotic location she relates homey little tales of village life such as Miss Marple would know (though without the murders).

As another reviewer has already mentioned these memoirs are reminiscent of Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody novels both in setting and wry tone. For fans of Christie it is a treat to get a glimpse into this very private woman's private life. From time to time a situation or person that has appeared in her stories can be seen here 'in real life'.