Go beyond the bestseller reputation to discover Agatha Christie as a writer, traveller and fascinating public figure. This course explores her life, loves, challenges and working methods, offering a more personal view of the woman behind the “Queen of Crime”.

You’ll look at the craft that made her such a publishing phenomenon, as well as the lesser-known writing she produced as Mary Westmacott. Along the way, the course asks what her fiction, both famous and overlooked, can reveal about human nature, private feeling and enduring reader appeal.

DELIVERY MODE

Face to face

COURSE OUTLINE

• Agatha's early life
• The historical period - the Victorian era
• World events at the time of her childhood and early adulthood
• Her marriage to Archie Christie
• Her early writing and her 'formula'
• Dialogue in her books and her interest with 'listening in on life'
• Her development as a writer
• Her travels
• The crime and mystery books - the stories, the source material
• The psychology behind the writer
• Marriage to an archaeologist and travels to Iraq
• Becoming Agatha
• Why modern mystery writers still learn from her technique

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Know more about Agatha's life and writing technique and grasp the complicated psychology behind her writing (light and dark).

COURSE RESOURCES

Suggested reading

• Agatha Christie: a Very Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley (Hodder & Stoughton), 2022.