![]() ![]() Ms de Gramont does amazing work here, balancing a fair play murder mystery plot worthy of Dame Christie herself with the kind of characterization that, she dryly notes, the more famous author often skipped over in favor of stereotypes. ![]() While the details of the story as written are different enough from the historical facts to make it clear that this is a work of fiction, oh, how I wanted this to be a true chronicle. The further I read, the more I was dazzled by what I discovered was also an extremely clever sleight of hand, as Nina de Gramont spins several different and seemingly unrelated mystery threads before snapping them all together into a breathtaking tapestry of crime and heartbreak and, most importantly, communion and grace. At about the 72% mark, I realized that this novel.was something much more than even the best of its contemporaries in the historical fiction genre. It did, however, show itself surprisingly willing to lean into a less than decorous – but very much appreciated by this reader – rage against the horrors committed against women in the early 20th century. The Christie Affair reads at first much like the absorbing works of Paula McLain and Gaynor Arnold: solidly researched historical fiction that sensitively explores the emotions of the women involved in turbulent events. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |