I thought the chapters on Agatha's disappearance in your book seemed really thorough. Was almost like being there. Quite an atmosphere! Poor Agatha and what she had been through - an extreme shock. Thank you for your more truthful account of what happened to her and for digging underneath the stories that survived of the case. Thought your book was brilliant!
I can well understand why people in the 1920s were reluctant to accept that a mental breakdown could be responsible for Christie’s actions – after all, it’s only in the last few decades that society has begun to accept the notion that mental illness can produce all kinds of seemingly bizarre behavior. What is maddening today, however, is that people seem unable to adjust their perspectives in the face of our better understanding of mental health. I’ve had debates (arguments, actually) with people who have no concept of what “revisionist” history really is. For them, it seems that once a “story” has been “told” it cannot, and must not ever change. Sigh. And Lucy - I’m sure I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, but being a historian puts a target on your back, especially for someone like yourself, someone who is always in the public eye, making history accessible to the wider public (I hate the word “popular”), and being unafraid to challenge “traditional” history.
My neice gave me your book on Agatha Christie for Christmas 2023. I couldn't put it down! It's the same for watching your series on Agatha, when it premiered here, in the States. You had a great "hook" to start the chapter on the young woman in NYC. Fascinating. I think that Agatha was a victim of the "double standard" which existed for women in the 1920's. So, stress added to all these events in her life, who wouldn't go into a "fugue" state???!!!
There's so much that we have to learn about the brain and how it works. I think it's the next scientific frontier.
Thank you Lucy; until I saw your programme and read your clear explanation backed by authoritative medical opinion I would have been sceptical but I'm now more than happy to accept the 'Fugue State' explanation. A clear example of a herstorian detective digging deeper to uncover the real facts.
You touched on elements similar to this in your Holmes vs Doyle series. The reading public wanted these authors to be mysterious, to be the characters they had created rather than their actions and emotions being based on personal demons such as Christie’s divorce and potential loss of custody of her daughter and Doyle’s interest in the occult trying to communicate with a son beyond the grave.
I love that you did not seek the sensational, untrue narrative, and that in this book 'Agatha Christie, A Very Elusive Woman' you are presenting to us the real Agatha Christie, restoring her narrative, one she tried to claim for herself. It makes her an even more important role model.
Like many women who eventually become authors - my debut novel The Seasonwife was published when I reached the ripe young age of sixty three. Like many women and of course some men, I found it hard to steer my own course. I was tripped and tricked by misogyny. From sexual harassment in shop work to working as a journalist in conflict zones around the world.
Just when I thought I'd got ahead, down I would go. I wound up penniless at fifty thanks to a cheating and economically abusive spouse! But hey now, I'm published. And I'm cracking on with more books.
How we survive is the story. From my experience and understanding of the fugue state, those who go into it simply need a cotton wool space of a safe nest. To come out of that state, to grow and fledge their wings, they need support and love.
There are so many lessons here for mental well being. What a tragedy that Agatha's story, so inspiring, was lost to her and us.
It is so important that authors raise the real women who have been buried by false narratives. These women should be freed from the confinement of those other forms of silence. The layering that hides their real strength and truth.
Thank you for again for this book on Agatha, for telling her story both for her sake and ours.
I will certainly buy, gift, and recommend your book on this elusive, brilliant, woman.
Yes, such Fugue states are a reality; The mind blanks-out the impossible to take in, the event that overwhelms. By reading your her-story telling of Agatha's life experience of Fugue, I see I have an incident of this in my own life! It explains so much!
An eye opening realisation of what a great and true to herself woman Agatha is. Thank you so much. I have loved her work for all my reading life and am so glad that you cared so much and researched her so well xxxx
I thought the chapters on Agatha's disappearance in your book seemed really thorough. Was almost like being there. Quite an atmosphere! Poor Agatha and what she had been through - an extreme shock. Thank you for your more truthful account of what happened to her and for digging underneath the stories that survived of the case. Thought your book was brilliant!
I can well understand why people in the 1920s were reluctant to accept that a mental breakdown could be responsible for Christie’s actions – after all, it’s only in the last few decades that society has begun to accept the notion that mental illness can produce all kinds of seemingly bizarre behavior. What is maddening today, however, is that people seem unable to adjust their perspectives in the face of our better understanding of mental health. I’ve had debates (arguments, actually) with people who have no concept of what “revisionist” history really is. For them, it seems that once a “story” has been “told” it cannot, and must not ever change. Sigh. And Lucy - I’m sure I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, but being a historian puts a target on your back, especially for someone like yourself, someone who is always in the public eye, making history accessible to the wider public (I hate the word “popular”), and being unafraid to challenge “traditional” history.
Well done!🌹🌺🌹🌺
My neice gave me your book on Agatha Christie for Christmas 2023. I couldn't put it down! It's the same for watching your series on Agatha, when it premiered here, in the States. You had a great "hook" to start the chapter on the young woman in NYC. Fascinating. I think that Agatha was a victim of the "double standard" which existed for women in the 1920's. So, stress added to all these events in her life, who wouldn't go into a "fugue" state???!!!
There's so much that we have to learn about the brain and how it works. I think it's the next scientific frontier.
Thank you Lucy; until I saw your programme and read your clear explanation backed by authoritative medical opinion I would have been sceptical but I'm now more than happy to accept the 'Fugue State' explanation. A clear example of a herstorian detective digging deeper to uncover the real facts.
You touched on elements similar to this in your Holmes vs Doyle series. The reading public wanted these authors to be mysterious, to be the characters they had created rather than their actions and emotions being based on personal demons such as Christie’s divorce and potential loss of custody of her daughter and Doyle’s interest in the occult trying to communicate with a son beyond the grave.
Yes! Thank you Lucy Worsley!
I love that you did not seek the sensational, untrue narrative, and that in this book 'Agatha Christie, A Very Elusive Woman' you are presenting to us the real Agatha Christie, restoring her narrative, one she tried to claim for herself. It makes her an even more important role model.
Like many women who eventually become authors - my debut novel The Seasonwife was published when I reached the ripe young age of sixty three. Like many women and of course some men, I found it hard to steer my own course. I was tripped and tricked by misogyny. From sexual harassment in shop work to working as a journalist in conflict zones around the world.
Just when I thought I'd got ahead, down I would go. I wound up penniless at fifty thanks to a cheating and economically abusive spouse! But hey now, I'm published. And I'm cracking on with more books.
How we survive is the story. From my experience and understanding of the fugue state, those who go into it simply need a cotton wool space of a safe nest. To come out of that state, to grow and fledge their wings, they need support and love.
There are so many lessons here for mental well being. What a tragedy that Agatha's story, so inspiring, was lost to her and us.
It is so important that authors raise the real women who have been buried by false narratives. These women should be freed from the confinement of those other forms of silence. The layering that hides their real strength and truth.
Thank you for again for this book on Agatha, for telling her story both for her sake and ours.
I will certainly buy, gift, and recommend your book on this elusive, brilliant, woman.
Wow! Brilliant, Lucy! I always find amazing the fascinating information that you are able to dig up!
I’m half way through her autobiography so it will be interesting to read her version of events when I reach it in her book.
Thank you for this, Lucy! Separate fact from fiction.
Yes, such Fugue states are a reality; The mind blanks-out the impossible to take in, the event that overwhelms. By reading your her-story telling of Agatha's life experience of Fugue, I see I have an incident of this in my own life! It explains so much!
An eye opening realisation of what a great and true to herself woman Agatha is. Thank you so much. I have loved her work for all my reading life and am so glad that you cared so much and researched her so well xxxx