Agatha Christie_A Biography by Janet Morgan

Author:Janet Morgan [Morgan, Janet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography, Mystery
ISBN: 9780060970307
Amazon: 039452554X
Goodreads: 16365
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Published: 1984-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

16

‘… a nice parallel track’

Max was now anxious to lead an expedition of his own and set about raising funds. Agatha shared this goal; indeed, in a Christmas letter to him in 1932 she had joyfully announced that she had been approached by some ‘film people who want to engage a few well-known authors’ and that, although suggestions she might ‘make £200,000 out of it’ were obviously ludicrous, it might bring ‘a nice little sum and with it we’d raze a mound to the ground!’ Nothing came of these advances, though she perhaps had them in mind as she drafted a dramatised version, never performed, of The Secret of Chimneys.

Agatha was writing prolifically and well. She was now just in her forties, happy and creative. There had been one sad moment, for the baby she was expecting the year before had miscarried and it was felt that she and Max should not now try to have another child. She was at Abney when this happened. Punkie was concerned and Rosalind alarmed at seeing her mother looking frail and ill, until Agatha assured her that, though shocked, she would be perfectly all right. This sorrow, too, was known to only a few friends, including, later, two or three young archaeologists at the time of their own pregnancies. Despite Agatha’s belief that a wife should always go with her husband on his travels, she would advise these women friends to stay at home for their confinement, avoiding the unsteady journeys to the desert. Her marriage to Max was a success and Rosalind got on well with her step-father, who was a natural teacher. He even succeeded with her where he had failed with Agatha, interesting Rosalind in philosophy and drinking wine. She had adjusted well to the new situation, and saw Archie regularly – though he and Agatha did not meet again after the divorce. Rosalind enjoyed her father’s games and teasing and managed to remain staunchly loyal to both her parents.

In the spring of 1933 Max eventually managed to attract as sponsors the Trustees of the British Museum and the British School of Archaeology in Iraq. The mound he chose was at Arpachiyah, some miles north-east of Nineveh, and, after some anxious weeks, he proved to have chosen well, as considerable quantities of beautifully decorated pottery and figures came to the surface. Max’s whole expedition, including publication of the results, cost only £2,000. The staff was small; apart from the cook, houseboy, labourers, and Gallaher, an Irishman who drove the lorry, it consisted of only three persons: Max, his friend John Rose the architect, and Agatha. Agatha was by no means a passenger. Her duties included keeping a written record and helping to arrange and reassemble pottery fragments. She had continued her lessons in drawing to scale, and, though not the most confident draughtsman, did her best. She also continued her practice, begun at Nineveh, of writing a chapter or two in quiet moments; two detective stories, two collections of short stories and a novel written under the name of Mary Westmacott were all completed in 1933.

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