По следам детективов: увлекательные истории для изучения английского языка. Анжелика Ягудена

You’ll find out some lesser-known facts that will probably surprise you.

      Agatha Christie is the unsurpassed “Queen of Crime” and one of the world’s best-selling novelists. Her books are outsold only by the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. In her career, Agatha Christie wrote sixty-six mystery novels under her own name and another six under the pen name Mary Westmacott. She also published a number of short story collections, numerous plays, and an autobiography. Among her most famous books are Murder on the Orient Express, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The ABC Murders, Death on the Nile, and many others. And it’s no secret that Agatha created iconic characters – Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

      Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on September 15, 1890, in Torquay, a seaside town in south-western England. She was the youngest of three children born to Frederick and Clarissa Miller. Agatha had two older siblings named Margaret and Louis. Curiously, little Agatha never went to school and was educated at home. Since early childhood, she loved books, and by the age of five, she taught herself to read. Little Agatha had a rich imagination. As a child she invented imaginary friends and began writing poems. When she was eleven, her beloved father died of a heart attack. This terrible misfortune came out of the blue. In addition to financial hardships, Agatha had to become a support for her mom, who grieved the loss of her loved one. They managed to overcome all life’s challenges, and over time Agatha took piano and singing lessons. She could have become a great pianist, but her natural shyness and stage fright prevented her from pursuing a career in music.

      It was in 1912, when Agatha met her first husband Archibald Christie, a military officer in the Royal Flying Corps. They got married two years later, on Christmas Eve 1914. With the outbreak of the First World War, the married couple was forced to live apart: Agatha remained in her hometown Torquay and worked as a nurse in a Red Cross hospital, while Archie went to France. Over time, Agatha became an assistant pharmacist in a hospital, where she learned much about poisons. It was precisely this fact that left an imprint on her work: poison is among fiction’s most popular murder weapons.

      Her first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha wrote in 1916 and dedicated it to her mother Clarissa. It introduced Hercule Poirot, the eccentric and brilliant detective. However, the journey to publishing this book was a long one. After being turned down by numerous publishers, Agatha Christie published her debut novel only in 1920.

      As the years went on, the relationship between Agatha and her husband hit a dead end. Shortly after the birth of their daughter Rosalind, the couple grew significantly apart. One day, on return from his business trip, her husband Archie announced that he had fallen in love with another girl named Nancy Neele. As it turned out, Nancy, unlike Agatha, shared his passion for golf. This news was a terrible blow for the writer. In fact, she loved her husband all those years and waited for him to come back from the war. Her whole world collapsed overnight, and she felt totally devastated. For a while, they tried to save their marriage, especially for their daughter’s sake. However, as the saying goes, “A cracked bell can never sound well.” One day, after a fierce argument, Archie left their house. The harsh reality was that he was going to divorce her. Later she would write in her memoirs, “I suppose, with those words, that part of my life – my happy, successful, confident life – ended.” Actually, separation is always a painful and heartbreaking experience, and everyone reacts differently to breaking up. As it turned out, Agatha Christie was vulnerable and sensitive, yet very strong. So, what do you think happened next? Fiction suddenly became reality: Agatha vanished without a trace.

      The mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie haunts our minds and imagination to this very day. This intrigue deserves an Oscar. So, what happened that night? According to her biographer, before disappearance Agatha Christie wrote a letter to her secretary Carlo Fisher, asking to cancel the hotel reservation in Yorkshire. She also sent letters to her husband Archie and his brother Campbell. Naturally, the question arises: was it all made up? Perhaps, the “Queen of Crime” was preparing her escape plan. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves! Agatha kissed her little daughter goodnight and drove off.

      The next morning, her car and personal belongings were found abandoned. Agatha Christie’s disappearance caused a great public outcry. There was huge speculation over the causes of this mysterious disappearance. Many predicted the worst-case scenario. The media suspected that Agatha Christie had been kidnapped. Some suggested that her husband Archie was involved in this disappearance, others suggested that she drowned herself. There was also speculation that Agatha took revenge on her husband. According to another version, it was a cunning ploy: she staged the entire disappearance to attract more audience to her new book.

      This was one of the biggest country’s manhunts: more than a thousand police officers, up to 15,000 volunteers, and even her beloved dog searched for the missing writer. On top of that, two other famous writers – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy Sayers – joined in the search.

      Agatha Christie had been missing for eleven days. She was found, safe and well, in Harrogate, Yorkshire. It turned out that she had checked into the hotel under the surname of “Neele,” the last name of Archie’s lady friend,which complicated the search. Agatha Christie didn’t comment on what had happened, claiming loss of memory. Doctors suggested she suffered a nervous breakdown. It’s still unclear whether her loss of memory was staged or caused by stress. Curiously, she didn’t recognize her husband Archie when he came to visit her. Agatha Christie never discussed the circumstances of her disappearance in detail, even with family or friends.

      Anyway, the investigation came to a dead end. Amazingly, the mystery still remains unsolved, and we are left with more questions than answers. Who knows, maybe Agatha Christie wanted to let people finish the story for her.

      Agatha and Archie split up. The divorce was tough on her. It took a while to cope with painful emotions and move on. Two years after divorcing Archie, Agatha married the archeologist Max Mallowan and joined him for regular expeditions to Iraq and Syria. I guess they bonded over the passion for traveling. Despite the difference in age – Agatha was fourteen years older than her husband – it was a happy marriage.

      Agatha Christie was a very private person. And the more famous the writer became, the more she shunned publicity. Even so, she was full of life! Agatha would say, “I have sometimes been wildly despairing, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” As I see it, Agatha Christie was a true adventure seeker. Her wanderlust and spirit of adventure encouraged Agatha and her husband to go on a round-the-world trip for ten months.

      Agatha Christie died on January 12, 1976, at age 85, but she will forever remain in the hearts of her devoted readers.

      Vocabulary

      every family has a skeleton in the cupboard [ˈevrɪ ˈfæm(ə)lɪ hæz ə ˈskelɪtn ɪn ðiː ˈkʌbəd] – в каждой семье есть свои скелеты в шкафу

      be eager [bi ˈiːgə] – жаждать, очень хотеть, стремиться что-либо сделать

      action-packed [ˈækʃn pækt] – остросюжетный

      puzzle over [pʌzl ˈəʊvə] – ломать голову над чем-то

      go missing [gəʊ ˈmɪsɪŋ] – пропасть без вести

      missing person [ˈmɪsɪŋ pɜːsn] – пропавший без вести

      suspicious [səˈspɪʃəs] –