Agatha Christie: An Autobiography

By: Agatha Christie

Narrated by: Agatha Christie

Back in print in an all-new edition is the engaging and illuminating chronicle of the life of the "Queen of Mystery". Fans of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple and readers of John Curran’s fascinating biographies Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks and Murder in the Making will be spellbound by the compelling, authoritative account of one of the world’s most influential and fascinating novelists, told in her own words and inimitable style - and here in her own voice. These audio excerpts were dictated by Agatha Christie herself.

The New York Times Book Review called Christie’s autobiography a "joyful adventure," saying, "she brings the sense of wonder... to her extraordinary career."

Please note: This is a historical recording, and the audio quality is reflective of the time in which it was recorded.

©1977 Agatha Christie Limited (P)2010 Agatha Christie Archive Trust

A Treat to hear Agatha tell her own Story

The chapters went by so quickly as I felt like I was having a cup of tea with Agatha as she talked about her writing life. I enjoyed hearing her voice and inflections. The personal insights and struggles she shares gave me a renewed respect for her work.

Original Recordings

I very much enjoyed Agatha Christie's memories and opinions in her own words. The only thing that keeps me from giving this 5 stars all around is the quality of the recordings. I realize the author died several decades ago, but with today's technology surely the recordings could be cleaned up and the extraneous noises edited out.. My only other comment is the misnomer. Agatha Christie did indeed write an autobiography which I read several years ago. I remember it being quite lengthy and covering her entire life chronologically and would love to see Audible produce it. This book is a few comments about her writing career, but enjoyable from that standpoint.

Agatha Christie is Amazing

The reason for the low rating of the overall of this title is because it is delivered in it's original form. This makes it difficult to understand. I would have given it much higher marks had I not had to struggle to understand what she was saying throughout.

Fascinating glimpse

How fascinating to hear, in the author's own voice, her thoughts and feelings. I wish the details of the audio recording listed what date(s) she made this recording & how old she was. She is old enough to have some definite clarity on some things she should & should not have done; but you also hear some tender spots that she skims over lightly to avoid opening the wound. Interesting if you're a fan. If not, you'll whine about an old lady. Save us both the nuisance.

Bad sound quality, but amazing!

This is a very old recording of Agatha Christie recounting certain aspects of her life. The sound quality is very bad, but it’s fascinating to hear her discuss her writing, her tastes, and small aspects of her life. The manuscript version was published a year after her death in 1977.

I had no idea that she considered herself a wife, first, and an author, second. She enjoyed writing and only did it because she liked it, though her books never entirely satisfied her. She mused over people’s urging her to get Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple to appear in a single story. The suggestion irritated her because she felt the two characters incongruent and incompatible.

She didn’t enjoy her work being transferred to the stage. She wrote her own play which everyone demurred on, implying it was no good. Then after some time, she decided that she should be the only one to transfer her works to plays.

Agatha Christie was spunky! It didn’t take her long to decide not to share her ideas with many people. Too often, when she shared an idea, she got a lot of negative feedback. It struck her confidence in her own judgement, and it didn’t take her long to decide that she didn’t like that. She knew what she liked. She knew what she would want to read. She would write that.

Her writing process was deeply encouraging as someone who has struggled with confidence in writing. She described the 3 to 4 weeks before beginning a book, chewing on pencils, laying on a bed to cry because you don’t have an idea — you did, but now you don’t think it’s any good. She would talk to her husband — she’s done with writing. She’s out of ideas. She’s no good as a writer. She’s written her last book. And he responded patiently, slowly — all that is rubbish. Of course she’s a good writer. Of course she has an idea. Of course it will all work out. She will certainly write another book.

This was so fun and encouraging to listen to, so inspiring! I highly recommend to anyone who would like be an author.

The author explains her process!

This is not your typical autobiography. It's more of a history on when and why she wrote her different books and plays. The unique thing for this is she reads it herself.

You can tell she is a very private person because there is little on her personal life in this story. It's really a textbook on how to write a book and how it worked for her.

For anyone who is a fan of Mrs. Christie's this is a fun book. Miss Marple is NOT her grandmother although a lot of characteristics they share, including a second sense that something is going to happen.

She also talks about her favorite books she's written: Absent in the Spring by Mary Westmacott (her pseudonym). That particular book she wrote the first chapter, than the last chapter and continued to write it in one day with no sleep. She than slept for 24 hours straight and the next day she read and made very few changes. She said she loved that experience but didn't know she could survive another one.

This is a good short listen and well worth your time if you are an admirer of her work.

free...because the audio quality it terrible

Is there anything you would change about this book?

As a writer I found this to be quite fascinating; however, I would like to have been able to hear it clearly. I couldn't make it all the way through but I appreciate that it was free; just a heads-up to potential downloaders.

An absolute treasure!

The fact that we have this recording available is amazing! Agatha Christie tells her story and gives insight to her inspirations and writing process. Invaluable for Christie fans, mystery fans, or literary history fans!

Sound is dreadful

I love Agatha Christie and it’s neat to hear her voice telling about her life. But the background noise is atrocious and it’s almost impossible to understand what she is saying at times.

From the Dame's Mouth

Where does Agatha Christie: An Autobiography rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Not in the top 50, but definitely enjoyable. I would have no problem listening to it again.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Agatha Christie: An Autobiography?

Hearing Christie's voice.

What does Agatha Christie bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Inflection

Any additional comments?

No.