THE SECOND CHANCE – (TALES OF INCLUSIVITY) #Blogchatter #WriteAPageADay
Her mind was blank, as she stared at the wall of her
living room, a room where she had seen life go by. She was thirty-five, and her
best years seemed to be behind her. Despair flickered in her heart, as she
thought over the devastating blows that life had landed on her.
She had lost the person closest to her recently… her
mother who had been a source of encouragement and support after her father
died. The youngest of the children, she had been home schooled and had learnt to read
and write. She was particularly fond of Mathematics. However, being the
youngest, she spent much of her time with her pets and her imaginary companions. She loved playing instruments like the
mandolin and the piano as well.
A lonely child becomes, most often, an avid reader as
well. She took her baby steps with Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear and then moved
on to Alexander Dumas, Walter Scott and Charles Dickens. At the age of ten, she
wrote her first poem ‘The Cowslip’.
Travelling with her ailing mother fuelled her interest in
Egypt and she passed wonderful hours at Cairo and also took in the grandeur of
the Great Pyramid of Giza, which stayed on in her memory. In 1912 she met
Archibald, a Royal Artillery Officer, and the two fell in love. They got
married on Christmas eve in 1914.
They both participated in the World War, and it was at
that juncture that she wrote her first detective novel. In 1919, Archie was
also back after the war, and she delivered her only daughter, Rosalind. By
1923, she had written two more detective novels.
However, her first setback came in April 1926 when her
beloved mother passed away, which threw her into a depression. Hardly had she
come to terms with the tragedy when two months later, Archie asked her for a
divorce as he had fallen in love with another woman.
That evening, she disappeared. The police hunted for her
everywhere, only to find her car at a deserted spot, with an expired driving
license and her clothes inside.
Her disappearance turned into a whodunit. The press lapped
up the story and thousands of police officers and 15000 volunteers scoured the
countryside. Despite the manhunt, she was not found for another ten days.
Finally, she was located at a hotel in Yorkshire under an assumed name.
No explanations were given for her disappearance. Was it
a case of a genuine loss of memory? Did she want to embarrass her husband? Or
had she suffered a nervous breakdown?
Her autobiography made no mention of this period. All she
wrote was “So, after illness, came sorrow, despair and heartbreak. There is no
need to dwell on it”.
By now, it must be clear that the protagonist of this
story was Agatha Christie, the Queen of Suspense.
In 1928, Agatha took a trip on the Orient Express to
Istanbul and Baghdad. It was during this trip that she met her second husband,
an archaeologist, Max Mallowan, who was thirteen years younger than her. They
were married in 1930 and her jaunts with him resulted in many novels set in the
Middle East. In 1934, she wrote her acclaimed ‘Murder on the Orient Express’
and the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul maintains her room as a memorial,
claiming that the book was written there.
The couple lived in Devon, and much of the inspiration
for her country novels came from Abney Hall, Cheshire, which belonged to James Watt,
her brother-in-law.
As the second World War came around, Agatha worked in the
University College Hospital, and this is where she acquired a working knowledge
of poisons, many of which she wove into her prodigious stories. She enjoyed
gardening, travelling, the sea, sports, theatres and embroidery. She won
innumerable prestigious awards and was finally promoted to Dame Commander of
the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Today, Dame Agatha
Christie is lauded by the whole world as the ‘Mistress of Mystery’, the ‘Queen
of Crime’ and the ‘Duchess of Death’. She is considered one of the most
prolific writers ever, and her pet detectives, the pompous but lovable Hercule
Poirot and the fussy, spinsterish Jane Marple are famous in their own right.
‘The Mousetrap’ has also earned a place in theatre
history by being the longest running play of all times. It was first staged in
1952 and closed down in March 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.
There are reams that can be written about
this superlative writer. She is a favourite of mine and will remain so, always!
One main reason is that even when I re-read her books, I enjoy the wit and the style
of her writing, the inconsequential details that suddenly attain importance,
the red herrings she places in clear view, and the crisp intriguing dialogues
that only she can create to perfection. Also, the fact that I never ever
remember who the murderer is!
My favourite book of hers? The Mirror Crack’d
from Side to Side!
This was such a nice read
ReplyDeleteWhat an enticing build up to the blog. Agatha Christie is my favourite too..
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read the book- 'The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side'..