Agatha Christie An Autobiography

Author: Agatha Christie

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $40.00 NZD
  • : 9780007314669
  • : HarperCollins Publishers Limited
  • : Harper Element
  • :
  • : 0.555
  • : February 2011
  • : 197mm X 135mm
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  • : 39.99
  • : March 2011
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  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

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  • :
  • : Agatha Christie
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  • : Paperback
  • :
  • :
  • : English
  • : 823.912
  • : 568
  • :
  • : Illustrations, ports.
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  • :
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Barcode 9780007314669
9780007314669

Description

Agatha Christie's 'most absorbing mystery' -- her own autobiography, with new exclusive CD containing newly discovered priceless recordings from more than 40 years ago of Agatha dictating excerpts about her life as a writer. Over the three decades since her death on 12 January 1976, many of Agatha Christie's readers and reviewers have maintained that her most compelling book is probably still her least well-known. Her candid Autobiography, written mainly in the 1960s, modestly ignores the fact that Agatha had become the best-selling novelist in history and concentrates on her fascinating private life. From early childhood at the end of the 19th century, through two marriages and two World Wars, and her experiences both as a writer and on archaeological expeditions with her second husband, Max Mallowan, Agatha shares the details of her varied and sometimes complex life with real passion and openness. Then, in 2008, Agatha Christie's grandson made a remarkable discovery. While clearing out her old house in preparation for its opening to the public, Greenway in Devon, a box of old tape reels was found to contain the recordings of Agatha dictating her Autobiography for her typist. These remarkable recordings are not only an amazingly rare example of Agatha's voice, but they also partly explain the engaging nature of her Autobiography - for they reveal the normally reclusive Agatha telling her own story in a lively, spontaneous and often conspiratorial way, whose passion in talking about her life is captured in the printed Autobiography. Now this new edition comes complete with a CD of highlights from these priceless tapes, giving Agatha Christie's millions of fans the opportunity to hear the Queen of Crime's story in her own words, and rediscover her remarkable full story in this special edition of her book, which is newly introduced by Mathew Prichard, the grandson who discovered the tapes.

Reviews

'Wonderfully easy to read and engrossing.' The Times 'The best thing she has ever written.' Woman's Own 'Agatha Christie's most absorbing mystery -- the story of her own unusual life. She has put it all on record: her early romances; a broken (and a happy) marriage; strange events on the path to roaring success.' Daily Mail 'A wonderful book -- written with a delight in the gradual unfolding of 75 years through the eyes of an exceptional old lady and writer.' Financial Times

Author description

Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie began writing during the First World War and wrote over 100 novels, plays and short story collections. She was still writing to great acclaim until her death, and her books have now sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. Yet Agatha Christie was always a very private person, and though Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple became household names, the Queen of Crime was a complete enigma to all but her closest friends.