XI Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2019

Agatha Christie was an English writer of crime and romantic novels. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play – The Mousetrap. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation.

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on 15 September 1890 in Torquay, Devon, South West England into a comfortably well-off middle-class family. Her father was an American stockbroker and her mother, Clara, was an excellent storyteller.

When Agatha was five, the family spent some time in France having rented out the family home of Ashfield to economise. At the age of eleven there was a shock. Her father, not well since the advent of financial difficulties, died after a series of heart attacks. There were more money worries and talk of selling Ashfield. But Agatha and her mother found a way forward and from the age of 15 Agatha boarded at a succession of pensions and took piano and singing lessons. She could have been a professional pianist but for her excruciating shyness in front of those she did not know.

By the age of 18 she was amusing herself with writing short stories. Some of them were published in much revised form in the 1930s.

In 1912 Agatha met Archie Christie, who was a qualified aviator. They married on Christmas Eve 1914 and had the only daughter – Rosalind.

During the First World War Agatha began writing detective stories. Her debut novel “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” (1920) took some time to finish and even longer to find a publisher. Her inspiration for Hercule Poirot came from a Belgian refugee from the First World War. The book sold well and helped meet the public’s great appetite for detective novels.

Following the war Agatha continued to write – experimenting with different types of thriller and murder mystery stories, creating first Tommy and Tuppence and then Miss Marple in quick succession. During her the Grand Tour in 1922, Agatha received the joyous news of good reviews for “The Secret Adversary” while in Cape Town.

1926 was a difficult year for Agatha – her mother had died and her relationship with Archie, strained by the sadness in her life, broke down when Archie fell in love with a fellow golfer and friend of the family, Nancy Neale. And so, Archie asked Agatha for a divorce. Traumatized by this, Christie disappeared only to be discovered by authorities several days later at a Harrogate hotel, registered under the name of her husband's mistress. They divorced only in 1928.

Later that year Agatha wrote her first Mary Westmacott novel “Giant’s Bread”, not a detective novel but a work of fiction about a composer forced to work for financial reasons.

In 1930, she married Max Mallowan, who was an archaeology professor. This marriage was much happier.

She travelled with him on several expeditions, later recounting her trips in the 1946 memoir “Come, Tell Me How You Live”. And in 1930 was published “the Murder at the Vicarage”, which became another classic and introduced readers to Miss Jane Marple, an enquiring village lady. The atmosphere of the Middle East can be seen in books such as “Murder on the Orient Express”, “Death on the Nile, Murder in Mesopotamia”, “Appointment With Death and They Came to Baghdad” and many others.

During the World War II Agatha was focused and prolific. She wrote and published such classics as “And Then There Were None”, “Evil Under the Sun”, “The Body in the Library”, “Five Little Pigs and The Moving Finger”.

By 1945 and the return of Max with the end of the war, Agatha had realised the tax implications of writing so much. She became less prolific and now enjoyed a slower pace of life.

The 1940s and 50s saw much time-consuming work with theatrical productions which also limited the time Agatha could devote to writing.

Agatha's last public appearance was at the opening night of the 1974 film version of “Murder on the Orient Express” starring Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot. Her verdict: a good adaptation with the minor point that Poirot's moustaches weren't luxurious enough.

After a hugely successful career and a very happy life Agatha died peacefully on 12 January 1976. She is buried in the churchyard of St Mary's, Cholsey, near Wallingford.

References:
Agatha Christie – a Biography by Janet Morgan. August 24, 2017.

Agatha Christie: A Mysterious life by Laura Thompson. March 6, 2018.

An Autobiography by Agatha Christie. September 11, 2012.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia by Encyclopedia Britannica.

John Cooper and B.A. Pyke. Detective Fiction – the collector's guide: Second Edition Scholar Press. 1994.