Book Club

Mary Westmacotts

For fifteen years Agatha Christie managed to keep a secret from the world. The secret was that she also published six novels under the name Mary Westmacott. These were not crime novels - Christie described them as "straights novels".

Part romance, part autobiographical, they give a fascinating insight into another aspect of Christie's work and are well worth reading in their own right.

Warning: These discussions may contain spoilers!

Absent in the Spring

Jemma 28 Aug 09 at 10:07 a.m. GMT

Joan Scudamore relishes the opportunity to spend a few days in the desert almost completely alone.  She decides she can use the time profitably to rest, think and look back on what she considers to have been a most successful life so far.

However she should have perhaps remembered that you must be careful what you wish for.  Convinced that she has led a blameless life with a loving husband and three adoring children she comes to realize, bit by bit, that this rosy hued view of her life is perhaps not the right one.  Is she strong enough to face up to the fact that not everyone sees her as she prefers to see herself?

She faces a huge dilemma at the end and makes her choice, but is it the right choice or the coward’s way out?

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9 replies

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betty_barnard 17 Sep 09 at 8:29 a.m. GMT

I'm a recent reader of the Mary Westmacotts and, apart from Unfinished Portrait, I could hardly believe I was reading Agatha Christie.  Absent in the Spring in particular I thought was very good.  It worked for me on many levels as a story: about what it's like to be on your own; about how a person can live a life oblivious to how others see them; about how sometimes a person faced with a fork in the road just takes the nicest looking path.

I would love to know if other people thought that Joan made the right decision in the end.

Read more about this story: Absent In The Spring

christiefanatic 13 Feb 10 at 3 a.m. GMT

I have to say I've read all of the Mary Westmaccot novels now and loved them. This one in particular is my fav because it's so spiritual in nature. It's especially revelant to the fast-paced life today where one has no time to introspect and when one actually gets the time to do so, a lot of revelations come forth.

monkeyjess1999 10 Mar 10 at 1:05 a.m. GMT

I have never read a Mary Westmac story before. Are they good?

elinor_carlisle 13 Jan 11 at 5:42 p.m. GMT

If Joan's split-second decision at the end had been otherwise -i.e. if she had exclaimed, "Oh Rodney, I'm so sorry!", it would have been a happy ending to a brilliant novel but the brilliance itself would have been lost. This ending, where Joan makes the choice to remain the same, hits you hard. It sort of reinforces the constancy of the inner self, whatever be the tumultuous experiences one undergoes in life. So, much as I wish Joan had seized her chance, I think the novel ends on the right note.

Number3 27 Jan 11 at 2:39 p.m. GMT

I have read all six.  The thing you have remember about the Westmacotts is that AC drew upon things that happened in her own life.  If you read her "Autobiography," the themes show themselves.

Number3 26 Feb 11 at 3:19 p.m. GMT

Right,

     This is a page for "Absent In The Spring."   Nowhere in the story does Mrs. Joan Scudamore talk about medicines.

Moderator2 07 Apr 11 at 9:43 a.m. GMT

Hi Number3, we've cleaned this page of spam now, if you see any more please hit the report abuse button.

Moderator2

at121 01 Jun 11 at 9:57 a.m. GMT

I have to say I've read all of the Mary Westmaccot novels now and loved them. This one in particular is my fav because it's so spiritual in nature. It's especially revelant to the fast-paced life today where one has no time to introspect and when one actually gets the time to do so, a lot of revelations come forth.

NightRayDuck 15 May 12 at 12:55 a.m. GMT

SPAM DAY! :D

...?

Hi Moderator - I also reported the 01 Jun 11 post as spam. It's word-for-word the same as a previous post by a different user on the same thread. I suspect it's a marker for "thread that people don't pay as much attention to, and so spam might not be reported" for the spammer's convenience.