Agatha Christie biography

The writer and playwright Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, more widely known by the name of Agatha Christie or by her pseudonym Mary Westmacott, was born on September 15, 1890, in the town of Torquay, Devon County, England, and died on 12 January 1976 in the city of Wallingford, County Oxfordshire, England. Most of his texts are characterized by the narrative of police plots, however, she does not stick only to this type of stories, slightly addressing other topics of writing. Throughout her life she published 72 novels, 14 stories and 2 plays, which became great commercial successes, being translated into 103 languages ​​and making her worthy of the Guinness record as one of the novelists with the highest sales received.

She was born as the third child of the relationship between American tax collector Frederick Alvah Miller and the daughter of a captain of the British Navy; Clarissa Margaret Boehmer. Due to the preferences of her family, she was raised only at home under the tutelage of the mother who instructed her in reading, writing, basic mathematics and music. By the year 1901, when she was barely 11 years old, her father died of a heart attack and a year later she would end her education at home after being enrolled in a ladies school run by Miss Guyer. Most of her childhood remained distant from other children, steeped in a constant reading of books and games with their imaginary friends and pets.

Because she found it difficult to adapt to the new environment, her stay in the ladies school lasted barely three years, after which she would be sent to Paris to receive her education in various institutions, among them: Mademoiselle Cabernet, Les Marroniers and the School of Mrs. Dryden, where she learned to dance, sing and play the piano. When she returned home, she dedicated herself to spending time with her mother, in writing tasks and collaborating in the making of plays by her friends. At this time she also began to publish her first writings, however, the vast majority were rejections. This same destiny suffered her first novel to which many publishers refused to publish, which eventually depressed her, nevertheless, she continued writing.

Her love situation had developed over the years in brief relationships until the time she married the aviator Archibald Christie. Due to the outbreak of the First World War her husband had to participate in it fighting against the German military forces, for her part Agatha enrolled in a group of volunteers to provide medical assistance to the wounded, seeing later the influences of these labors in her texts. By 1918 her husband would return from the war, earning decorations for his hard work. The following year her husband would leave the position of Colonel within the Ministry of the air to work in the financial field. That same year her daughter Rosalind would be born.

Because she loved the police plots that she read she tried to make a novel of that style and by 1920 she wrote The Mysterious Case of Styles, a novel that was rejected by various publishers until one offered to publish it if the end changed, which ended accepting However, she achieved notoriety when writing Murder on the golf course in 1923, receiving very good reviews and praise for the structure of the plot. 1926 marked her great success as a writer with the publication of the murder of Roger Ackroyd, where she would use narrative resources to innovate the hidden element in the police stories.

For that same year, Archibald asked for a divorce, because she had a relationship with a lover whom she wanted much more. The news shocked her to such an extent that for 11 days she was missing and after being found in a hotel in the city of Harrogate she did not remember the reason why she was in that place nor could she recognize her husband. After receiving psychological treatment for a time for the year 1928 can face the situation and finally separated from Archibald. At the end of this year, with the intention of writing more freely, she would make the decision to use the pseudonym Mary Westmacott to publish a novel outside the police topic, which she named the giant’s bread. In one of her trips to the archaeological zone of Ur she met Max Mallowan and after a time of courtship she would marry him in 1930, to which later they traveled through different parts of the world to form a honeymoon.

Due to her wide production and literary quality, she was honored with the Grand Master Award, the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire; later being promoted by Isabel II to Dama Comendadora. Her writing activity was decreasing little by little as her health progressively deteriorated, taking her to death by natural causes on January 12, 1976. Her remains were deposited at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, located in the town of Cholsey, County Oxfordshire.