Absent in the Spring - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0008255652 ISBN 13: 9780008255657

Publisher: HARPER COLLINS

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime for her 80 ingenious crime books and her plays. Writing anonymously as Mary Westmacott, she also wrote about crimes of the heart, a series of six bittersweet novels with a jagged edge, as compelling and memorable as the best of her work.

From AudioFile

Writing as Mary Westmacott, Agatha Christie reveals a very different side. The six Westmacott novels, written between 1930 and 1956, feature more introspective plots and greater character development. But Christie is still Christie--even under a pen name her works make keen observations about people and the conflicts that arise between them. In this novel, Joan Scudamore reflects upon her life and her family while stranded between trains. Ann Beach illuminates Joan's growing acceptance of the uncomfortable truths of her life. The cutting remarks of her friend Blanche are delivered in the tones of the not-so-well-meaning friend. Well-defined secondary characters add warmth and realism to the story as Beach captures an East Indian railroad servant with a high, singsong voice and sketches Joan's fellow traveler, Princess Sasha, with a refined European accent. This quiet story speaks volumes about the underside of family relationships. G.D.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: HARPER COLLINS
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0008255652
• ISBN 13: 9780008255657
• Binding: Paperback