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!

Giant's Bread

Jemma 28 Aug 09 at 9:38 a.m. GMT

Agatha Christie imbues this novel about the life of a somewhat tortured composer, Vernon Deyre, with her own obvious love of music.  However she does step out of her own musical sphere by letting Deyre compose in a style that would probably not have been particularly to Christie’s own taste.

She draws too on her own experiences in the First World War working in a hospital to bring colour to Deyre’s wife Nell’s duties at that time.

Is the fact that Deyre is a somewhat unpleasant man have any bearing on when this book was written: soon after her divorce from her first husband?  And can you spot the use of a quote that she later used as the title of an autobiographical book?

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