Agatha Christie: An Autobiography

By: Agatha Christie

Narrated by: Agatha Christie

Length: 1 hr and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

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

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.

Agatha Christie: An Autobiography

Agatha Christie in her own words. A good autobiography but the audio was difficult too hear.

Fun find, wish it was the book

Loved hearing the queen of crime herself talk about her writing life, but wish there was an audiobook of her famed autobiography. Also the bad audio is hard to get through.

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.