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Loading... The Grand Tour: Around the World With the Queen of Mystery (2012)by Agatha Christie, Mathew Prichard (Editor)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie and was eager to read this. However, I was a little disappointed. I'm not sure what I expected, as Christie's writing is descriptive and humorous. Perhaps her amazing mystery writing gives this a little too much build up. It's very entertaining in parts and a great picture of the time. Christie and her husband travel to several parts of the British Empire, including Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and Canada. But at some point one can just not find that much entertainment in reading of yet one more "interesting" woman that Christie meets or reading a description of yet one more tour of a fruit farm. I think my favorite parts were when Christie shows her more adventurous side, as when she learns to surf and also reading and thinking about the difference in culture when it was seen as more important for a woman to accompany her husband on a several month's tour around the world than to be with her three year old daughter. Our view of parenthood and the role of a "wife" has certainly changed. In 1922, Christie embarked on a 10-month world tour. Her letters and photos document the glamour and downside of exploring the unknown, as well as her trademark adventurous zeal. An album of Agatha and Archie Christie's trip around the world with the British Empire Exhibition Mission in 1922. Their grandson put this book together from photo albums, letters home, and excerpts from Agatha's autobiography. Since I recently read the autobiography, I was already familiar with most of the events, but the pictures and letters added another dimension to the narrative. An enjoyable look at a different era. no reviews | add a review
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"In 1922 Agatha Christie set sail on a ten-month voyage around the world. Her husband, Archibald Christie, had been invited to join a trade mission to promote the British Empire Exhibition, and Christie was determined to go with him. It was a life-changing decision for the young novelist, a true voyage of discovery that would inspire her future writing for years to come. Placing her two-year-old daughter in the care of her sister, Christie set sail at the end of January and did not return home until December. Throughout her journey, she kept up a detailed weekly correspondence with her mother, describing the exotic places and the remarkable people she encountered as the mission traveled through South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Canada. Reproduced here for the first time, the letters are full of tales of seasickness and sunburn, motor trips and surfboarding, glamor and misery. The Grand Tour also brings to life the places and people Christie encountered through the photos she took on her portable camera, as well as some of the original postcards, newspaper cuttings, and memorabilia she collected on her trip. Edited and introduced by Agatha Christie's grandson, Mathew Prichard, and accompanied by reminiscences from her own autobiography, this unique travelogue reveals a new adventurous side to Agatha Christie, one that would ultimately influence the stories that made her a household name"--Jacket. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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"The Grand Tour" follows Agatha Christie and her first husband, Archie, as they begin a 10 month trip from England and back again in 1922. Agatha Christie had given birth to her daughter Rosalind, but decided that she would accompany Archie who was a member of the British Empire Exhibition Mission party.
The Christies travel around the world and have to deal with some people who you wonder if they ended up in any of Christie's works in the future. For example, the general manager of the commission was Major Ernest Albert Belcher who was aggravating to the extreme. I think at one point in South Africa it's implied that if they eat anything that the "natives" provide, they were just asking for death.
Even though Agatha suffered from really bad seasickness and still didn't seem at home on a boat, she still traveled and met with people eagerly. I loved reading about how she and her husband learned to surf. I think that Moonlight was the first person to tell me that Christie learned to surf and it does boggle my mind that women at this time were doing this. It seems as if this would be an activity that most people would deem too manly.
The writing was quite clear and crisp. We get headers to let us know the date of letters and you get a foreword and afterword by Christie's grandson. I would love to read a better nonfiction book about Christie since the one I read last year by Laura Thompson was practically unreadable. This book did a good job of giving me a glimpse of her life. ( )