Agatha Christie at Home -

Hilary Macaskill, Mathew Prichard (Foreword)

Frances Lincoln, USA

2009

160 páginas

5h 20m

ISBN-10: 0711230293

Though she owned several houses, Agatha Christie had one surpassing favorite: Greenway, on the Dart estuary in Devon. She was born nearby, bought it in 1938, and spent all her summers there until her death in 1976. It was, she wrote, “the loveliest house in the world.” Greenway makes a thinly disguised appearance in at least two of her novels, and nearby settings also play a crucial role in her books. This book explores and illustrates the significance of Devon in Christie’s work, and of Greenway in particular — its magnificent gardens, its beautiful setting on the estuary, and her relationship with its servants and staff. Richly illustrated with rare archival images and evocative photographs of Greenway and the surrounding countryside, Agatha Christie at Home is a delightful look at the life and work of the world’s best-selling novelist.

Agatha Christie was the author of over eighty novels and over a dozen plays, including The Mousetrap, the longest continuously running play in theatrical history. Her books have been translated into more languages than the works of Shakespeare.

Agatha Christie's first home was at Ashfield in Torquay, a house that she retained for nearly half a century, until she sold it in 1938 in order to buy Greenway, her â dream house on the River Dart. She spent all her summers there till she died in 1976. It was, she wrote: â??the loveliest house in the world.â?? Now owned by the National Trust, Greenway was opened to the public in 2009.

Both Devon homes, which featured in several of her novels and stories, were central to Agathaâ??s life, but she also loved the process of acquiring and planning houses in other places â?? from Sunningdale to Baghdad: at one time, before the Second World War, she owned eight properties in London. Her enthusiasm for buying, restoring and decorating houses is one of the lesser-known aspects of her life, but one that was very important to her. Agatha Christie at Home â?? illustrated with photos of her life, her homes and of the Devon she loved â?? recounts this side of her life, and its author, Hilary Macaskill, writes about some of the houses Agatha Christie lived in, her relationship with the staff who ran them, and her love of domesticity.

Illustrated with rarely-seen archive images and evocative photographs of Greenway and the surrounding countryside, Agatha Christie at Home provides an insight into the life and work of a much-loved author.