Agatha Christie
Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was a British writer who wrote mysteries, psychological fiction, plays, and poetry. That is an almost laughably cryptic basic description of one of the bestselling writers in publishing. Currently, it is estimated that her books have sold approximately two billion copies. Her estate estimates that she is the most widely published author or text after the Bible and Shakespeare. She has been translated into 103 languages. Not shabby for a upper middle-class girl who liked lab work in chemistry and pharmaceuticals — and who liked to write.
She bestrides the world of mysteries like a colossus. She is often considered formulaic in her approach, “cookie-cutter,” but any respectful reading quickly dispels that envious evaluation. She wrote sixty-seven detective novels and fourteen short-story collections, intimidating enough, and influential beyond all measure for a century now. She also wrote a series of novels under the name of Mary Westmacott which astonish anyone who reads them not as gothic romance, as they were marketed, but as psychological surgeries, merciless analytical examinations of women at the sharp end of reality. She often wrote with humor, with a sharp and sassy satirical eye, and she was capable of a sensitive pathos with the people who were collateral damage in her so-called “whodunits.” Remarkably, she had a cool and ambivalent attitude toward her heroes and heroines, including Miss Marple and the great Hercule Poirot.
Agatha Christie is a complex and complicated writer. I invite you to read her as comfort fare, which she is, and I invite you to read her as a twentieth-century novelist, which she is in a circumspect and mysterious way. Enjoy!
Unfinished Portrait [writing as Mary Westmacott]
Unfinished Portrait [writing as Mary Westmacott]
PUBLICATION DAY HAS NOT YET BEEN ANNOUNCED.
An unforgettable tale of a woman at her most vulnerable by Agatha Christie, written under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott.
Agatha Christie, famous for her ingenious crime novels, also wrote about crimes of the heart. Written under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, Christie’s tales of romantic suspense further explore the human psychology she was so intrigued by, freed from the expectations of her mystery fans.
Bereft of the three people she has held most dear—her mother, her husband and her daughter—Celia is on the verge of suicide. Then one night on an exotic island, she meets Larraby, a successful portrait painter. Through a long night of talk, she reveals she is afraid to commit herself to a second chance at happiness with another person, yet is not brave enough to face life alone. Can Larraby help Celia come to terms with the past, or will they part ways, her outcome still uncertain?
Unfinished Portrait is both poignant and personal, borrowing details from the author’s own life to create an unforgettable and bittersweet love story.