September Woman of the Month: Agatha Christie

Written by Sophie Holbourne


This September I'm going with the theme of 'literature'. I have recently written a blog on six of my favourite feminist reads, and as the Agatha Christie Festival has just happened in September, it seems fitting that she is my next woman of the month.

Agatha Christie was born on 25 September 1890. She began life surrounded by many strong, independent women and had a very happy childhood. Interestingly, her mother was believed to be psychic with the ability of second sight. Christie's education was not at school but at home. Despite her sister attending school, Christie was kept home and taught by her parents. Her mother, Clara, believed that Agatha should not learn to read until she was eight. Luckily, due to her own curiosity, Agatha taught herself to read by the age of five. By the age of ten, she had written her first poem - 'The Cowslip'.

Although Agatha had a happy childhood, it was not without its hardship. Her father was often ill and, after suffering from a series of heart attacks, he passed away aged 55 in 1901. Sadly, Agatha said that once her father died, her childhood ended aged just eleven. The family’s economic situation became unstable, meaning Agatha had to attend formal education at Miss Guyer's Girls School in Torquay. She found it hard to adjust and was later sent abroad to Paris to be educated.

Upon Agatha’s return home, she found her mother ill. As a result, they travelled to Cairo and stayed there for three months. During this time, Agatha attended many social events in search of a husband, but once she was home she continued her work and extended into poetry. She spent many years writing, and getting her first novel published was a struggle. Named 'Snow upon the Dessert', the novel is set in Cairo and written under a pseudonym. This novel was rejected several times and it was suggested she try something else.

Her search for a husband continued and led to four failed relationships and an engagement, until she met Archie Christie at a dance. He was an army officer in the Royal Flying Corps and proposed marriage to her when he learned he would be stationed in Farnborough. Archie had been sent to France during the First World War and they had to marry during his leave, on Christmas Eve.

During the war, Agatha selflessly gave her time as an unpaid nurse in order to help with the wounded soldiers in Torquay. This, to me, is so inspiring. Agatha volunteered for two years, helping wounded soldiers and generally keeping morale high. She put the needs of others before herself, which to me is just brilliant!

Her first novel was 'The Mysterious Affair At Styles' - this being inspired by her love for detective novels. She began writing the novel in 1916 and had been rejected several times by many publishers. After several months, she was accepted on the grounds that she changed the ending of the novel. She did, and signed the contract in 1920. Whilst dealing with her up-and-coming career, she was also managing her family and expecting her one (and only) child. Her second novel was published and earned her ÂŁ50.

Very few of us are what we seem.

— Agatha Christe

The next part of Agatha’s life is still, to this day, a mystery and is also incredibly interesting. In 1926, Archie wanted a divorce after falling in love with Nancy Neele. They argued, and Archie left the house to spend time with his mistress. At 9.45pm, she left her house (leaving a note for her secretary saying that she had gone to Yorkshire). However, her car was found at the side of a quarry with her clothes and an expired driving licence. This caused an outcry, leading to a £100 reward being offered and 15,000 volunteers looking for her. Arthur Conan Doyle even gave Agatha’s glove to a clairvoyant to try and find her! Days later, she arrived in Harrogate and gave the name of her husband's lover. The entire story is very odd and many people question why she actually went missing. She was diagnosed with amnesia but people have formed their own theories as to what they believed happened (one theory is that she had tried to frame her husband for murder, but this seems unlikely).

Despite this, she continued to write novels. Her divorce settlement allowed her to keep her name for writing purposes and she retained custody of her daughter. She remarried and wrote many, many more books. She died aged 85 in January 1976.

The reason that I chose Agatha to be my woman of the month is because not only was she a female writer during the 1920s through to the 1970s, which would have been met by intolerance and some criticism, but she also continued to write despite the fact that she was going through a divorce and suffering such trauma. Agatha Christie truly is an inspirational writer and I find it incredibly sad that she is not alive to see how successful her novels continue to be!

If you want to find out more about this amazing woman, you can follow these links:

Also, Netflix currently has a film called “Agatha and The Truth of Murder”, and Doctor Who also made an episode featuring Agatha Christie called the “Unicorn and The Wasp” (during David Tennant’s time as 'The Doctor').

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