Absent in the Spring

by Agatha Christie, Mary Westmacott (Pseudonym)

A striking novel of truth and soul-searching.

Returning from a visit to her daughter in Iraq, Joan Scudamore finds herself unexpectedly alone and stranded in an isolated rest house by flooding of the railway tracks. Looking back over the years, Joan painfully re-examines her attitudes, relationships and actions and becomes increasingly uneasy about the person who is revealed to her…

Famous for her ingenious crime books and plays, Agatha Christie also wrote about crimes of the heart, six bittersweet and very personal novels, as compelling and memorable as the best of her work.

Genres: Agatha Christie, Fiction, Mystery, Classics, Romance, Audiobook, Historical Fiction

190 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1944

About the author

Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.

Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)

Reviews

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me profoundly uncomfortable, which I believe was the whole point of it. Pick it up when you're in the mood for some self-reflection. It certainly made me want to be a kinder, more loving person & caused me to wonder, uneasily, how my actions and motives might appear to others.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

It had been quite easy to fill her life with unimportant trivialities that left her no time for self-knowledge.
Astounding and tragic and painful to read.
‘ He thought, You are alone and you always will be. But, please God, you’ll never know it.’
The astute story of self deception, complacency,, self satisfaction, judgement, blinkered delusion and the most awful of all, the choice not to act once the veil is lifted.
I love a good Agatha Christie mystery but this book is in a different class. I am now very interested in Christie as a woman and plan to find out more about her.

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agatha Christie described this book as “the one book that has satisfied me completely - the book I always wanted to write.” That was all the motivation I needed to pick this one up.


Joan Scudamore is a complacent woman who’s married to a lawyer and has three children. Returning from a visit to her daughter in Iraq, she comes across an old school friend, Blanche Haggard. When Blanche tells Joan the story of her life, that she followed her heart with mixed results and that she moved down in social status because of her marriage, Joan pities her. Because Joan thinks her life is much better than Blanche’s. Blanche however feels quite satisfied with her life, even if she did travel on a very long and rocky road to get to her current destination.

Not long after, Joan finds herself stuck in a rest house in the middle of the desert. It’s a sort of hotel for travelers. There, she has to wait a couple of days before the next train comes. For the first time in her life, she has some time to herself. She basically starts puzzling her life together. The events that shaped her life. The choices she’s made. The people she loves. And she quickly realizes that maybe her life isn’t as perfect as she always assumed it was.


Agatha Christie wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. She wanted to experiment with her skills. And she didn’t want the reputation of her detective novels clouding over these books. She wanted these books to be judged on their own merit. So that’s definitely something you need to keep in mind when you’re reading her Mary Westmacott books.


Agatha Christie wrote Absent in the Spring in a mere three days. Which is just absolutely insane. But there’s a good explanation for this. This was written during the Second World War. Agatha Christie buried herself in her writing when her husband was sent abroad, leaving her behind. And the novel actually ends with a little reference to the Second World War. Plus, this is also a very introspective book, where a woman looks back on her own life. And it’s easy to see some resemblance between the protagonist and Agatha Christie herself. Which is probably another reason why she wanted to write these books under a pseudonym.


There’s one scene in particular that really stood out to me. In the beginning of the story, the protagonist remembers taking a casual walk with a man. And that man out of the blue said to her: “you know, you’re the sort of woman who ought to be raped. It might do you good.” That is a bit shocking, to say the least. She remembers it rendered her speechless with anger and astonishment. It’s an incident she wishes she could forget. But the fact that she still remembers it after all those years, means that it had quite an impact on her life.


Definitely not a murder mystery. It’s an introspective read that leads the protagonist to new realizations about her own life and about who she has become. It’s quite short and very well written. You also might be tempted to reach out to someone you love afterwards, to tell them just how much you appreciate and love them.

[Veronique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most people have heard of Agatha Christie and her murder mysteries. However, the six novels she penned under the name of Mary Westmacott are relatively unknown.

Unlike her other works, this story does not feature a crime. Instead it focuses on a middle-aged woman stuck in an isolated rest house in the desert for days, waiting for a train to take her back to civilisation. With nothing to do, Joan Scudamore ends up assessing her life and facing some unpalatable truths. Sounds less than thrilling, and yet... Christie writes in such a manner that even an unlikeable main character is rendered fascinating. The reader is enticed to gather all the clues of this life, especially the details in between the lines, to put together the picture of this woman and her influence, like an investigation. Not only this, there is a feeling of urgency growing through the pages - what will happen?

Absent in the Spring was Christie’s most satisfying work - “...the book that I had always wanted to write, that had been clear in my mind. It was the picture of a woman with a complete image of herself, of what she was, but about which she was completely mistaken” - and she does this masterfully, offering us a dramatic and intriguing psychological study.

One can’t help wondering if Agatha felt something similar when her fist husband left her, turning her life upside down. Everyone wonders where the author disappeared for those 11 days, but did she do just that - find herself an isolated spot and analyse her life, especially the signs pertaining to her husband that she had refused to see... Whichever way, this novel is brilliant, disturbing, and entertaining.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, my sources were wrong. This is not a romance novel. It is not even a happy novel.
It is a heart-wrenching, psychological look at a 'modern' woman forced to actually examine her seemingly picture-perfect life and admit that she messed it up. That she is, to quote C.S. Lewis, "the sort of woman who lives for others - you can tell the others by their hunted expression.”
She thought she had the perfect marriage--but she forced her husband to give up his dreams so that they might be financially successful and in the process made him miserable.
She thought she was the perfect mother--but she pushed her children away by trying to control every aspect of their lives.
She thought she was empathetic and kind. In reality, she refused to see pain and instead only passed judgement.
And now, stranded at a train station and all alone with her thoughts for the first time possibly ever, she must reflect on who she really is.

This was not a fun book, and yet it is a strangely beautiful one. It induces self-reflection. This is a side of Agatha Christie you don't see in her mysteries. It felt more personal, more vulnerable and made me wonder more about her infamous disappearance in 1926. Was she too forced to confront herself when every other illusion was stripped from her?

Short but packs a punch. I'd go back for more.

Pre-Review
Excuse you, HOW COME NO ONE TOLD ME AGATHA CHRISTIE WROTE ROMANCE NOVELS?!

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agatha Christie writes here under the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott. The Westmacott books focus on relationships rather than the solving of a mystery. I prefer them. Why? Because human relationship fascinate me and because Christie understands people and how they interact. No two of us are the same. She eloquently captures this through her characters’ dialogs, actions and thoughts.

We look here at a mother, happily married with three adult kids. What is focused upon is the wide disparity between the woman’s own view of herself and how others in her very own family see her! Keep in mind, they know her well! How can views differ so?!

I’ll just say this—the telling is extremely well done. Convincing, believable and thought provoking. What happens is that she is stuck at a train terminus after visiting her daughter in Bagdad. The wadis ae flooding and the trains are no longer running. She is attempting to make her way home to England. She’s alone, out in the desert for several days, with no companions to talk to, no books to read, no knitting, embroidery or other craftwork to occupy her time…..or her mind! Even her paper and pencils have run short. Sure, the small terminus hotel provides water, food and bed, but the monotony and the lack of people is driving her crazy. Her thoughts turn inward onto herself. What does she discover?

Eventually the trains begin working again. The trip recommences. Her self-analysis--where will it lead?

Jacqui Crago narrates the audiobook competently. I appreciate here ability to express both thoughts and dialog. Foreign accents she does well too. The words are clearly enunciated and easy to follow. Four stars for the audio narration.

The story is very good simply because of the depth of the character portrayals. I adore how the husband, a barrister, looks at marriage. There are surprises as well as humor. The end makes sense, despite that I find it upsetting. This is because I too have a personality. It too influences what I think and do, just as with the characters in the book!



*********************************

I highly recommend Agatha Christie: An Autobiography. This I gave a whopping five stars! Also Come, Tell Me How You Live, which I gave four stars. She writes under her husband's name in the latter, i.e. Agatha Christie Mallowan.

Mary Westmacott novels
*Absent in the Spring 4 stars
*Unfinished Portrait TBR
*Giant's Bread TBR
*A Daughter's a Daughter TBR
*The Burden TBR
*The Rose and the Yew Tree TBR

[Woman Reading (is away exploring) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ☆

"I wonder," she paused, "if you'd nothing to think about but yourself for days and days I wonder what you'd find out about yourself--"

After publishing her first mystery novel in 1920, Agatha Christie wanted the freedom to experiment with her writing. Under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, Christie wrote six novels from 1930 to 1956. Absent in the Spring was published in 1944. In the progression of Joan's mental state, I can readily discern the psychological pattern that Christie had described so effectively in And Then There Were None. I also wonder how related were Joan's thoughts to Christie's own musings during her 1926 disappearance.

In Absent in the Spring, it's the late 1930s. Joan is married to Rodney Scudamore, a successful but dissatisfied solicitor, and they have three grown offspring. She's pleased with her image as the caring and dutiful mother who had rushed to her youngest's bedside. Never mind that her youngest, Barbara, is married, has a baby, and resides in Baghdad, Iran. And now, after taking leave of Barbara's home, Joan is stranded in Tell Abu Hamid, which is just one of many stages of the nearly week-long journey between Baghdad and home in Crayminster, England.

There was nothing to be afraid of in being alone-- nothing at all. ... but not so easy to control the curious odds and ends of thoughts that popped in and out of your head for all the world like lizards popping out of holes.

Tell Abu Hamid consists of modest accommodations and the Turkish rail terminus. There's nothing else but desert and apparently mental lizards. And it doesn't take long before Joan becomes unnerved.

"I mustn't be foolish. I must make some kind of plan. Arrange a course of - of thinking for myself. I really must not allow myself to get --well--rattled."

According to the official Agatha Christie website, she had been exceedingly pleased by how Absent in the Spring had turned out. She had written it in just three days.

"I didn’t want to change a word and although I don’t know myself of course what it is really like, it was written as I meant to write it, and that is the proudest joy and author can have."

I enjoyed the psychological perspective of Absent in the Spring. Compared to the majority of her mystery novels, Christie had chosen a bold direction with her Mary Westmacott books. The ending surprised me even though it was completely in sync with human nature. In fact, it was a bit unsettling as this novel stimulates self-awareness.

[BrokenTune · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Joan felt a little gentle glow as she turned away from her image in the glass. She thought, Well, it’s nice to feel one’s been a success at one’s job. I never wanted a career, or anything of that kind. I was quite content to be a wife and mother. I married the man I loved, and he’s been a success at his job – and perhaps that’s owing to me a bit too. One can do so much by influence."

Absent in the Spring is the book that Agatha Christie describes as her favourite piece of work - not because it is her best but because it was the book she really wanted to write.

Amazingly, it is a pretty good story even though there is not a single murder in sight!

The story follows Joan Scudamore, a middle-class wife and mother who is returning from a visit to her daughter in Iraq and is stuck in the middle of nowhere, in a desert, because of the railway lines being flooded. Oh, the irony.

Anyway, Christie fabulously uses Joan's isolation to let her reflect on her life and ponder over her relationship with her husband and with her daughter.
The crux of the story is that Joan's perception of herself and of the people around her are as much an illusion as the mirage she experiences when out walking in the desert.

The question, however, that keeps the story quite tense is whether Joan will realise this by the end of the book.

I found myself reading this book with some apprehension as I had no idea what to expect. Of course, the biggest surprise was that I could hardly put the book down once the characters had been introduced and Joan's dilemma became clear.

"What was it Blanche had said? You’ve gone up in the world and I’ve gone down.’ No, she had qualified it afterwards – she had said, ‘You’ve stayed where you were – a St Anne’s girl who’s been a credit to the school.’"

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agatha Christie wrote six crime of the heart novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. Absent in the Spring is considered by many to be one of her quiet masterpiece novels. Joan Scudmore has it all; she looks good for her age, has a handsome husband with happy children, a respectable house and a good name, but when she is stuck at a desert outpost on the way back to England she is forced to retrace the past. As the past unravels, Joan feels the cracks in her life reveal themselves till she realises that from her family, from her friends, and indeed from the rest of the world, she has indeed been absent in the spring.

This is a strange novel in that not a lot happens. It is almost entirely a character study of Joan. This is why the story is so compelling and so chilling. Perhaps Joan is in all of us. How many times do we promise ourselves that we will turn our lives around and then convince ourselves that everything is fine and that we can go on as before? When Rodney prays that Joan never learns how alone she truly is, it is a truly ironic and disturbing slap in the reader's face. The era may have changed but human nature has not. It is this exploration of human nature that makes Absent in the Spring a Christie tour de force.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you had nothing but yourself to think about what would you find out about yourself?

From 1944, this is the third of six novels Agatha Christie published under the alias Mary Westmacott. Instead of a murder mystery, it’s an elegant character study that reminded me most of The Enchanted April and The Rector’s Daughter. Joan Scudamore, traveling back to London from Baghdad after a visit to her grown daughter, encounters bad weather and misses her train, which leaves her stranded in the desert for a few days that feel more like weeks. She remembers what Blanche Haggard, a school friend she unexpectedly ran into on her travels, said to her in reference to never having time to relax and do nothing but think. What might Joan discover about herself? Blanche teasingly wondered. Joan dismisses her promiscuous friend’s words, offering up a pharisaical prayer: “thank thee that I am not like that.”

Joan quickly runs out of books to read and tires of omelettes with tinned beans and fruit for three meals a day. She escapes from the rest house to take walks in the desert and the self-examination she’s been putting off indefinitely proceeds. Christie makes full use of dramatic irony as we’re led back through scenes from Joan’s earlier life and realize that she’s utterly clueless about what those closest to her want and think. Her husband Rodney wanted to be a farmer, but she pushed him to become a lawyer instead. Her older daughter was in love with a married man they drove her away from; their younger daughter married young just to get away from home.

Rather like Olive Kitteridge, Joan is difficult in ways she doesn’t fully acknowledge. Like a desert mirage, the truth of who she’s been and what she’s done is hazy, and her realization feels a little drawn out and obvious. But the question remains: once she gets back to London, will she act on what she’s discovered about herself and reform her life, or just slip back into her old habits? I thought also of Anne of Tyler’s Ladder of Years and its key word, inertia: it’s so hard to change when you feel like you’ve been doing well enough. This is a short and immersive book, and a cautionary tale to boot. It also examines the interplay between duty and happiness, and the temptation of living vicariously through one’s children.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read so many Agatha Christie novels - I have not (untill now) read any of the Mary Westmacott books. I know from a biography I read recently that they are quite different, not featuring detectives and murders. Her Mary Westmacott novels (of which I believe there are 6) are about crimes of the heart. This one Absent in the spring, I found really good indeed. Middle aged Joan Scudamore is totally isolated, while stranded in a rest house in Iraq, her lonlieness playing on her mind, allows her to look back over key points in her life with a clear eye. Through this process Joan faces some difficult truths. The ending has a slight twist - which is not totally unexpected. The writing is really good, and the way in which the author has slowly revealed - by going back and forth over certain events in Joan's her husband's and children's lives - the hold Joan has had over the lives of her family, the decisions she has had them make beacuse of how she treats them. I can't wait to read more Mary Westmacott novels now.

[Marwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

(١) يوماً ما سأعيد قراءة هذه الرواية الإنسانية الاستثنائية التي لن يشعر بكل سطر فيها إلا من عايش تجربة مماثلة كما أشارت الصديقة منال في مراجعتها الجميلة. يكفي أن تعرف أن أجاثا كريستي على شهرة وكثرة ما كتبت من روايات بوليسية، اختارت هذه الرواية الدرامية الإنسانية النفسية الخالية من الجريمة لتصفها بأنها: "الكتاب الوحيد الذي أرضاني تماماً. إنه الكتاب الذي أردت دوماً أن أكتبه".

(٢) هل تعرفون هذه الجمل التي تختصر رواية بأكملها؟
في رواية غسان كنفاني الشهيرة "رجال في الشمس"، جاء التساؤل الشهير "لماذا لم يدقّوا جدران الخزان؟" ليلخص أحداث الرواية ويوضح الهدف منها، لذلك ربما لن تجد مراجعة تخلو من الإشارة إلى هذا التساؤل ومحاولة الإجابة عليه. لا تسعفني ذاكرتي بالمزيد من الأمثلة عن هذه العبارات أو الجمل التي تختصر وتكثَف الروايات، ولكن وجودها في الرواية يجعلها أيقونية بلا شك.

في هذه الرواية صاغت كريستي عبارة أيقونية على لسان زوج جوان بطلة الرواية وهو يحدّث نفسه:
"أنتِ وحيدة، وستكونين دائماً وحيدة، ولكن ربّاه لا تجعلها تعلم."

هذه العبارة القصيرة تلخص كل شيء، تلخص نُبل الزوج ونفاذ بصيرته ودرايته بزوجته، تلخص شخصية الزوجة التي يعطيها القدر فرصة للبدء من جديد ولا تفعل، تلخص كيف نضحك على أنفسنا حين نمضي قُدماً ولا ننظر للوراء ونتظاهر أننا لم نعرف ما عرفناه. أبدعت أجاثا في التقاط كل هذه المعاني وتكثيفها في هذه الجملة.

ولازلت أحاول استخراج الدُّر من بحر هذه الرواية الاستثنائية.

[Maria Bikaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Καλώς ή κακώς οι περισσότεροι από μας έχουμε γνωρίσει και αγαπήσει την Αγκάθα Κρίστι ως συγγραφέα αστυνομικών ιστορίων. Είναι εκείνη η συγγραφέας που κατά τη γνώμη μου άλλαξε το ρου της αστυνομικής λογοτεχνίας, τον διαμόρφωσε και τον απογείωσε. Εχοντας την έτσι λοιπόν στο μυαλό αρχικά δε μπορείς να είσαι πάρα πολύ σίγουρος ότι μπορείς ή κυρίως ότι θέλεις να διαβάσεις κάτι τόσο διαφορετικό από εκείνη. Κάπως έτσι, διστακτικά και με πάσα επιφύλαξη ξέκινησα μία από τις 6 έως τώρα αδημοσίευτες ιστορίες της. Μια εντελώς διαφορετική ιστορία μακριά από τα συνηθισμένα που δε θα βρει πολλούς φίλους απ ‘ όσους την αγάπησαν για τις αστυνομικές της ιστορίες. Προσωπικά σε γενικές γραμμές παρόλο που δε με κάλυψε απόλυτα μου άρεσε. Γενικότερα μου αρέσουν βιβλία όπου οι ήρωες καλούνται να παίξουν το παιχνίδι της εσωτερικής αναζήτησης. Εχω βρεθεί στη θέση να πρέπει να κοιτάξω τον εαυτό μου στον καθρέφτη και να αναρωτηθώ πολλά πράγματα για μένα όπως η ηρωίδα και δεδομένου ότι είναι ένας δύσκολος δρόμος, βρίσκω εξίσου δύσκολο να αποτυπωθεί με σεβασμό στο χαρτί. Σε γενικές γραμμές λοιπόν ότι η συγγραφέας με αρκετό σεβασμό και σύνεση αποτυπώνει τον αγώνα της ηρωίδας της ν’ ανακαλύψει τον εαυτό της, ν’αμφισβητήσει τα πεπραγμένα της, να παλέψει ενάντια στη μοναξιά της και ν’ αναμετρηθεί με τους δαίμονες της ένα προς ένα.
Δε θα βρείτε μεγάλες αποκαλύψεις, σπουδαίες ανατροπές, ούτε θα ξεπεταχτεί κανένας δολοφόνος μέσα από τις σελίδες του αλλά αν σας ενδιαφέρει ν’ ακούσετε μάλλον να διαβάσετε ένα βιβλίο για τις σχέσεις μεταξύ των ανθρώπων και την αγχώδη και πολύπλοκη ανάγκη όλων μας ν’ ανακαλύψουμε τον εαυτό μας η σύντομη αυτή ιστορία αποτελεί μια καλή επιλογή. Όχι εξαιρετική αλλά αρκετά ικανοποιητική και καλή παρέα για τα καλοκαιρινά μεσημέρια σας στην παραλία.

[Lulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a little disturbing for me. It's about a rather smug woman who has to spend a few days at an isolated middle east desert outpost while waiting for a train, with no one to talk to and nothing to do. She starts reminiscing, and has something of a brief mental breakdown when coming to some conclusions about her life. Much of the writing is stream-of-consciousness style in this short book, easy to read, but powerful in it's effect.

In another review on goodreads, one reader described the book as a devastating portrayal of the emotional isolation the character suffers when denial is her coping mechanism. Another reviewer, said the book made her profoundly uncomfortable, and that's probably what it was supposed to do. Still another, said... who among us has not vowed, on deep reflection, to change her/his life, and then when it came time, flaked out in denial.

This book makes you examine your own actions and true motivation...selfish or unselfish? Yes, it makes one quite uncomfortable. I'm not feeling very smug right now.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

On her travels Joan chances to bump into an old friend, Blanche, and they talk for a while. It is quickly obvious how different the two women are. Joan appears cultivated and refined, while Blanche seems coarse and blousy. Joan looks back fondly at their school days together at St. Anne’s, whereas Blanche refers to the atmosphere at the school as “smug and consciously healthy.”

Joan becomes uncomfortable in Blanche’s company especially when Blanche talks about her relationships with men and lists her husbands and lovers, which Joan thinks of as a “singularly unsavory catalog.” Blanche refers to Joan as rather strait-laced, “a St. Anne’s girl who married suitably.”

Joan frets that Blanche will continue with her on her travels for some time. “A chance meeting was all very well but she had grave doubts about sustaining the pose of friendship all the way across Europe.” She needn’t have worried, as Blanche is about to leave and travel in the opposite direction. Additionally, she is astutely aware of Joan’s discomfiture, which she speaks about plainly, then goes on to say that bad weather is coming, and Joan may get held up by it. She pauses before adding, “if you had nothing to think about but yourself for days and days I wonder what you would find out about yourself-”

And so, Joan’s journey of self-discovery begins, as she finds herself thwarted by the weather and alone in a resting house in the desert with an abundance of time to contemplate her life and the choices she has made over the years and how they have affected her family.

The title of the story comes from a quote from Sonnet 98 by William Shakespeare, “From you I have been absent in the spring” and is about being unable to enjoy the spring due to the absence of their loved one. Instead, it feels like prolonged winter.

During her enforced solitude and with nothing else to do but think, Joan comes to the painful realization that she has been emotionally absent from the lives of her husband (Rodney), and their children, Avril, Tony, and Barbara and that she doesn’t really ‘know’ them.

What follows next is a recap of their family life, where Joan finally faces the truth about herself albeit unwillingly. What will she do with this newfound knowledge? Will Joan’s relationships with her husband and children change? The ending was unexpected and took my breath away.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh. My. Word. What a book. Will write more later.

I was watching my favorite Miss Marple (with Joan Hickson - we all know she IS Miss M.). An 'About the Author' was included on my DVD so I clicked on it to learn a bit more about Agatha Christie. I learned that she also wrote under the name Mary Westmacott. I was gobsmacked; I had no idea. So of course I started down the rabbit hole of searching for the books written by Mary Westmacott, were they available at my library? (no), were they still in print, were they at my favorite bookstores, which should I read first? After looking at reviews on GR, 'Absent in the Spring' caught my eye. Now to search for an available copy.

As an aside, I read a book once in which the bookshop owner would prescribe books to his patrons who came in looking for a book to read. I didn't like that book (dear heart that story meandered and lost its way) but I do like the premise of books being prescribed. Somehow, I felt that 'Absent in the Spring' had been assigned to me.

So back to my search and my rabbit hole. I came across an audio version and the sample sounded just right. Sold! I'll buy it. Audible has it! BUT NOT IN MY COUNTRY - what is that all about? Chirp didn't have it so I looked for used CD's. I found used cassette tapes... I was going deeper and deeper into my rabbit hole and somehow I felt that I needed to listen to this book. It was assigned to me! I finally found an online version which was free but not ideal. I couldn't bookmark where I stopped listening and when I went to listen again the book started at the beginning and I had to scroll down through the chapters to figure out where I left off. But I persevered.

And now I feel a bit exposed. Am I like Joan? Always so insistently helpful and well-meaning. Or am I like Leslie; a bit disheveled but thoughtful and observant about life and others. It seems we've all met Joans, and Leslies, and Rodneys, and the children in our life. But this story is about Joan (who is all alone).

Why did (Mary Westmacott) Agatha Christie write this book? Was it about her? Was it about someone close to her? Was it cathartic to write? I think it is brilliantly written and quite an accomplishment. To write a novel which is mostly someone's inner thoughts and not have it be just rubbish is amazing. Joan had her Road to Damascus experience in the desert...Yet, she was a short-term convert. Or did she really change and apologize to Rodney but the book ends before that happens?

I would highly recommend this book but it is not a book to be read lightly. As I said, I listened to it (Ann Beach did a superb job of reading it) and I now will continue down my rabbit hole to find a hard copy so I can underline in it. Perhaps I'll also find an audio version. This is a book to be re-read on occasion.

SHAKESPEARE

From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,
That heavy Saturn laughed and leaped with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue,
Could make me any summer’s story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew:
Nor did I wonder at the lily’s white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight
Drawn after you, – you pattern of all those.
Yet seem’d it winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.

Do all rabbit holes lead to Shakespeare?

[Srivalli Hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joan Scudamore is on her way back to London after visiting her daughter in Iraq. The heavy rains wash away the railway lines, leaving her stranded in an isolated rest house (pretty much in the middle of nowhere). Of course, the rest house is managed decently well, and Joan doesn’t have to worry about her safety or food.

However, she has too much time on her hands. A woman used to being busy at all times finds herself doing nothing. Her meeting with Blanche, her childhood friend, before being stranded puts her in a contemplative mood. As Joan thinks back about her seemingly perfect life with a happy and successful husband and lovely kids, she realizes that the truth is different from her perception.

Joan doesn’t want to accept this new view of her life, but she can’t help it. The more her unease grows, the more she realizes that her idea of perfect might have done more harm than good. Was Joan a competent and wise woman with a good head on her shoulders, or was she someone people endured for the sake of it?

As a diehard fan of Christie, I extend the same love to the books she wrote as Mary Westmacott. These are more personal, introspective, and heavy with melancholy. Absent in the Spring is hard to categorize into a particular genre. Those who put it in romance couldn’t have been more wrong. Drama comes closest, I suppose.

The first 30-40 pages are enough to give us an idea about the theme. We know the direction the story will take. We even know what it’ll do to the lead character, Joan. But we still want to see if our assessment is right or not.

To be honest, I’m not sure how to review this one. It’s bittersweet; frustrating at times because you cannot help but want to shake some sense into Joan. Annoying at times when Joan does nothing but delay her introspection. Yet, it is compelling because you can’t help but continue reading to see if she’ll notice and realize what you did.

You can’t wait for the ending because you hope for a positive beginning but know deep down that it may not happen. Oh, you’ll come to hate Joan, pity her, and even hope for her. But can you love her?

“You are alone and you will always be. But, please God, you’ll never know it.”

To sum up, Absent in the Spring is a must-read if you like analyzing characters and people. It is a must-read if you want to go introspect on your life and look at it from another perspective. The book has given me greater satisfaction than some of her mystery novels (and I’m saying this as a fan of the author and a mystery lover).

*****

P.S: A reviewer mentioned Christie called this book her most satisfying work, and I can see why.

*****

PPS: I read the paperback and can say that it did make a difference to my reading experience.

[Khrystyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Психологічний роман який Агата Крісті (під псевдонімом) написала за 3 дні, а я проковтнула десь за 3 години. Як пише авторка у своїй автобіографії, роман про "зображення жінки, яка мала повністю сформоване уявлення про себе, про те, ким вона є, та це уявлення було абсолютно хибним."

Джоан застрягає на кілька днів у пустелі на турецькому кордоні, дороги розмило, поїзди не ходять.. Суцільна самота, інших подорожуючих немає. Спочатку, Джоан відчуває радість від такої нагодити побути наодинці! Проте з кожним днем все більше і більше ящірок вилазить у її думках - стосунки із дітьми, підозри чоловіка у зраді, сприйняття справжньої себе. В її пам'яті виринає те, що вона "знає", але вирішує "не пам'ятати", адже в такому випадку не завдаєш собі болю.

Якщо тобі впродовж багатьох днів доводиться думати лише про себе, цікаво, до яких глибин можна докопатися?

І ось, ненавмисне, я починаю копатися у своїх глибинах разом з Джоан. Агата дуже вміло залучає читача до роздумів та саморефлексії! Читати лише якщо ви готові зазирнути трішки глибше в себе.

Залишу з цитат тут те, що мені відгукнулося про любов та шлюб.

Коли кажуть, що чоловіки люблять за красу:

Не перша красуня із тих жінок, яких люблять. Але що таке любов? Спокій і радість, які він відчував, коли дивився на неї в кріслі навпроти.

Партнерська угода, я про це теж в такому дусі мислила колись:

Шлюб - це угода, що складається між двома людьми, дорослими людьми, які повністю усвідомлюють, на що вони йдуть. Певним чином це партнерство, і кожен партнер зобов'язується виконувати умови цієї угоди, тобто стояти один за одного - у хворобі і в здоров'ї, у хороші часи і погані, у радості і горі. Ці слова виголошують у церкві зі схваленням та благословенням священика, але тим не менш вони залишаються угодою, оскільки кожна добровільна домовленість між двома людьми є угодою.

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Λοιπόν, τελευταία φορά που διάβασα βιβλίο της Αγκάθα Κρίστι (πριν από αυτό, προφανώς), ήταν τον Ιούλιο του 2012. Ναι, και όμως, κατάφερα τόσα χρόνια να μην διαβάσω ούτε μια αράδα της. Και τώρα, τόσα χρόνια μετά, αντί να διαβάσω ένα από τα τόσα ωραία μυθιστορήματα μυστηρίου που έχει γράψει, διάβασα ένα κοινωνικό μελόδραμα που έγραψε με το ψευδώνυμο Μαίρη Γουέστμακοτ, το οποίο μόλις κυκλοφόρησε για πρώτη φορά στα ελληνικά.

Σαν θεματολογία δεν μπορώ να πω ότι ανήκει ακριβώς στα αναγνωστικά μου γούστα: Μια μεσήλικη γυναίκα, κατά την επιστροφή της στην Αγγλία έπειτα από μια επίσκεψη στην κόρη της στο Ιράκ, βρίσκεται μόνη και αποκλεισμένη σ'έναν ξενώνα ��τη μέση του πουθενά, λόγω πλημμύρας στον σιδηρόδρομο. Τι λίγες μέρες που θα κάτσει στον ξενώνα, διάφορες σκέψεις θα περάσουν από το μυαλό της, σχετικά με την ίδια και την οικογένειά της, ενώ πολλές σκληρές και ενοχλητικές αλήθειες θα βγουν στην επιφάνεια, οι οποίες ίσως ανατρέψουν τον τρόπο που ζούσε και σκεφτόταν μέχρι τώρα.

Παραδόξως, δεν πέρασα καθόλου άσχημα. Με κάποιον τρόπο, η αγαπητή κυρία Κρίστι κατάφερε να μου κρατήσει το ενδιαφέρον μέχρι το τέλος. Όχι ότι περίμενα τίποτα ανατροπές και εκπλήξεις, όμως κάτι στην όλη ψυχολογική ενδοσκόπηση και, φυσικά, στον τρόπο γραφής, μπορώ να πω ότι μου άρεσε. Είναι ένα βιβλίο που λέει κάποιες αλήθειες και ίσως κάνει τον αναγνώστη να σκεφτεί με τη σειρά του κάποια πράγματα για τα πεπραγμένα του. Είναι ένα βιβλίο που χάρη στην απλή αλλά συνάμα οξυδερκή γραφή, διαβάζεται πολύ εύκολα και γρήγορα.

Υ.Γ. Λίαν συντόμως θα διαβάσω και ένα μυθιστόρημα μυστηρίου της Αγκάθα Κρίστι, έτσι, για να επανορθώσω...

[Vavita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agatha Christie said that Absent in the spring was the most personal book she published. – Extract from her biography: “Shortly after that, I wrote the one book that has satisfied me completely. It was a new Mary Westmacott, the book that I had always wanted to write, that had been clear in my mind. It was the picture of a woman with a complete image of herself, of what she was, but about which she was completely mistaken.”
I wonder if that is how she felt about her first marriage. If she thought they were completely happy and in love, had the perfect family… If she, years after her divorce, realized how nothing really was as she had assumed, how she had missed details, how she had “known” things and had “forgotten” them.
I don’t think I would have enjoyed this book without having read her bio first. The main character is a pain. She has only one chapter of absolution, only one chapter when you root for her. But still, the book is wonderfully written. I was never bored.

[Gaby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to think of this book. Only that I didn't really enjoy reading it. It was an interesting idea, a woman having to come to terms with herself, but the execution was lackluster. It just seemed to drone on and on and on with no redemption in sight. And once we do, it's gone in the blink of an eye. Wish I loved Agatha Christie as Mary Westmacott, but it seems that this other side of her is unknown for somewhat of a reason.

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating portrait of a remarkably unobservant and unaware woman, Joan Scudamore. Christie, as Westmacott, takes us into Joan’s mind as she waits for a train in the desert, on her way back home to England. We hear Joan’s thoughts about her husband, her three children, her marriage, raising the children, and a little about people in their lives. While Joan states her views on these people and what a good wife and mother she is and marriage she has, it becomes rapidly clear that the people around her have very different and much more realistic impressions of the woman Joan actually is. Joan’s insistence on her views, her lack of sensitivity, compassion and insight have caused a lot of harm to her relationships, to which she is completely unaware. That is, until she has too much time on her hands. And then it all comes down on her, her pretty pictures revealing themselves to be quite different. Christie’s slowly revealed portrait of a utterly self-centred person is beautifully and devastatingly done.

[Julissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡Ah, si! Se había preguntado si no teniendo uno nada más que hacer que reflexionar durante días y días, no llegaría a descubrir cosas ignoradas sobre sí mismo.

Este libro es el retrato perfecto de por qué la gente le teme a la soledad y al silencio... Y es porque se tienen miedo a sí mismos! A descubrirse y entonces darse cuenta de todas las partes oscuras que uno tiene.

Porque entonces, ¿qué se hace después de este descubrimiento? ¿Cómo sigue uno su vida? ¿Se atrevería uno a hacer lo necesario para cambiar? ¿O preferiría uno vivir de una ilusión para no sufrir?

Es verdad que muchas veces, vemos lo que queremos ver. Vivimos más en negación que en aceptación y siempre excusamos nuestros actos diciendo que es lo mejor para los seres que amamos... pero la mayor parte del tiempo son razones egoístas y para el bien propio.

"Saber vivir es difícil. Una se va cuando se tendría que quedar y se altera cuando debería permanecer tranquila. Hay momentos en que la vida es tan bella que cuesta trabajo creer que pueda ser realidad, y después, ¡pam!, de repente cae sobre una un infierno de catástrofes y sufrimientos. Cuando las cosas van bien, una cree que aquello durará siempre, y es imposible. Y cuando se está abrumado por la pena y los sufrimientos, se tiene la impresión de que nunca se podrá superar todo aquello, de que jamás se logrará salir de aquellas tinieblas para volver a ver la luz del sol. La vida es así. ¡Qué le vamos a hacer!"

Me encantó esta historia, y no porque simpatizara con la protagonista, porque no soporté a Joan! Pero me encantó todo el viaje, y Agatha Christie comprende y retrata tan bien comportamiento humano que me deslumbra... Todos los personajes, distintos, complejos y reales!

El final me dejó algo molesta, tenía esperanzas y quería otro final, pero mientras más lo pienso más creo que es el final perfecto. Perfecto para Joan, y perfecto para la historia. Tristemente me deja con un sinsabor para el resto de la humanidad también... Porque, ¿cuántos no hubieran hecho lo mismo? Y al mismo tiempo me pregunto, ¿Estoy yo también haciendo lo mismo?

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel has made me introspective. The main character is a smug woman who has detached herself from the realities in her life because she just doesn't want to deal with it.

Dame Agatha Christie, writing as Mary Westmacott, masterfully follows the unfolding of Joan Scudamore's self realization. Joan is stranded at a desert way station while on her way back from visiting her daughter in Baghdad. She runs out of reading materials, and has no diversions whatsoever, and thus is forced to spend some quality time in reflection.

This novel was well written. Even though this wasn't typical Dame Agatha mystery fare, I would argue that it unfolded in a manner similar to a good mystery. It takes a gifted writer to unwind such a simple concept in such an interesting fashion, and then still have a good surprise at the end!

[Cristiana de Sousa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐
Gostei bastante deste livro. Não tinha expectativas nenhumas e acabei por me surpreender. Já sabia que seria uma leitura diferente do que a Agatha nos habituou na maior parte da sua obra. É um livro que nos faz pensar muito em quem somos e como as pessoas nos vêem. Pois existe uma diferença entre o que pensamos que as pessoas pensam sobre quem somos e o que o realmente as pessoas pensam sobre nós. E essa percepção por vezes é totalmente diferente. Apesar de ter gostado de todo o enredo, o final desiludiu-me um pouco. Percebo o porquê da autora ter optado por um final mais realista e mais próximo da realidade, mesmo assim, eu senti a necessidade de um final que não fosse em vão. Depois de terminarmos este livro, sem duvida que precisamos mesmo de fazer uma auto-reflexão profunda de quem somos e quem queremos ser. Aconselho vivamente a leitura desta obra xD

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you who you think you are? This book delves into the life of Joan Scudmore who takes the time to rethink her life. She uncovers unfortunate truths about her perfect life and her own belief of her all-knowing perfection. This was an unsettling book when applied to my own life. Who am I, as others see me? Am I who I think I am?

A marvelous work of fiction from Agatha Christie. Prepare to have your life put under the microscope.

[Vikas Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been written by Agatha in a completely different genre and style. The plot is quite intense and as a reader you are stuck by the writer’s brilliance in being able to capture the insecurities of the protagonist so well. And in the end she succeeds in establishing the contrast so well. Brilliant read

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years ago, I heard that Agatha Christie had written half a dozen novels under the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott. I saw a couple of the covers and assumed they were fluffy romance novels and was only slightly interested. They were hard to find and I didn’t pursue the search for very long.

A Goodreads friend kindly sent me a link to the audio version of Absent in the Spring and I was absolutely astonished as I listened to it. I’m not sure what the other Westmacott titles are like, but Absent in the Spring is no trite romantic fiction. It’s hard to review the book without giving away too much of the plot, but I’ll try.

The story takes place just before WWII. Joan Scudamore is a middle-aged woman who is travelling back from Iraq to England. She misses her train at one of the stops and is stuck in a little hotel in the middle of nowhere. She’s always been a planner and people manager, and when faced with nothing to do for the first time in her life, she begins to deal with painful memories. The novel then takes on the tone of a psychological thriller. I’m still gobsmacked at Christie’s genius in weaving together Joan’s memories with bits of poetry, Bible verses, conversations, etc. Although not a Christian novel, it deals with the depths of depravity in the human heart in a way which few “light” novels do.

Simply brilliant. (Ann Beach’s narration at BookAudio.online doubled my enjoyment of the book.)

[Lila · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had apprehensions about reading my favourite author outside her genre and I'm disappointed. A pointless write that aspires to depth and wisdom that aren't there. Christie does her best to portray the protagonist as dislikeable as possible - average person, imperceptible, self-complacent, judgemental. And yet in the end you see that her miserable family is guilty of much more and with no excuse of even loving her in the least. They all seem to have grudges and pity for her, they all silently make her responsible for everything that's not right. But Joan stays true to herself. She did and gave what she could and lived how she knew best, being kinder to her children and husband than they were to her ; certainly loving them and being loyal. No one should be expected to be a telepath ceaselessly living to please and serve. After all, however shallow her life seems it was not wicked. She did not live a lie like the rest of her family chose to live - enablers, concealing their feelings and thoughts, weak and afraid to talk to each other, glad to have someone to blame and despise.
I can see Joan, with all her flaws, in a better family that appreciates her.

[Steve R · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a connection there, a clue, a clue to something that was waiting for her, hiding beneath the silence. Something from which, she now realized, she wanted to escape.

This 1944 novel is a tour de force of psychological drama, brilliantly constructed and masterfully executed. The depths of analysis to which Joan Scudamore, its central character, is drawn into making about herself and her life while essentially marooned at a rest house in the Iraqi desert for several days is so seemingly simple in its conception but nonetheless intensely subtle in its development.

Having read all the books she’s brought and exhausted all her writing paper, Joan is forced into days of idleness which led her inexorably into self analysis. An early encounter with a former schoolmate provided a foreshadowing for the major part of the novel: ‘If you had nothing to do but think about yourself for days and days, you might find out about yourself.’

This is far from a pleasant experience for Joan. She dreams that she is a vast prison with winding corridors from which she cannot find her way out even though she knows which way it is. Her thoughts feel to her like lizards popping out of holes to alarm and disturb her. Her feelings are associated with those of a visitor ‘in a dentist’s waiting room. The feeling of something definitely unpleasant just ahead of you, the determination to reassure yourself, to put off thinking of it, and the knowledge that each minute was bringing the ordeal nearer.’

This psychological tension is ratcheted tighter and tighter as Joan remembers past instances from her life. The domineering Miss Gilbey at her school, the undisciplined schoolmate Blanche, her long-suffering but empathetic husband Rodney, the disappointment of her son Tony who refused to become a solicitor, the sardonic and satirical criticism of her daughter Averil, the mysterious ‘poisoning’ of her daughter Barbara, the intense suffering of Leslie Sherston, Rodney’s fascination first with Myrna Randolph and later with putting a red rhododendron on Leslie’s grave, her mother’s ‘complete lack of method and consistency’, the resentment at her coldness on the part of a servant, Rodney’s jaunty and carefree walk away from her at the train station: all these ‘lizards’ pop up for Joan’s consideration and allow the reader to see into a soul that is as unsympathetic, personally myopic, egotistical and incapable of any real empathy as any I’ve ever read of in any other work.

Christie’s skills at characterization vie with those of her ability to construct plots and write dialogue: all three make her such a very, very good writer. But it is the searing insight of characterization that makes this work so brilliant. Can Joan come face to face with herself and realize how little she is truly loved or cared for since she herself has chosen to restrict her interpersonal relations in such a circumscribed and impersonal degree? More particularly, can she come to see how her children don’t care for her at all and her husband has been in love with another woman?

Brilliantly done; a truly gripping exercise in self-analysis that is so acutely painful in its process since it is such an unwilling endeavour. How much, I found myself wondering, are we all like Joan: naively going through our lives, following our own conceptions of what is right and wrong, and almost totally oblivious as to how little others truly care about us? Maybe it is a good thing for us that we don’t face days and days with nothing to do but think about ourselves.

Highly recommended.