The exhibition begins in the English country house, a staple of Christie\u2019s murder mysteries. Those less familiar with Christie\u2019s biography will learn an enormous amount. But even die-hard fans will enjoy seeing hitherto closely guarded objects and manuscripts. There are rooms filled with childhood photographs, early stories written to impress her sister and hand-drawn sketches of St Mary Mead, Christie\u2019s iconic English village and the setting for Miss Marple\u2019s sleuthing. These sit alongside games that visitors can play and mysteries to be solved. For instance, what are your chances of being murdered in a Christie novel? Or, can you determine the motive behind the murder described?<\/p>\n
In the exhibition\u2019s second space, the dispensary, visitors learn not only about Christie\u2019s war service and her training as a pharmaceutical dispenser, but how this specialist knowledge translated into murderous poisons used in her novels. Christie\u2019s descriptions of poison were so detailed and accurate that they occasionally helped her readers to save lives<\/a>.<\/p>\n Visitors are then transported to one of the most iconic of Christie\u2019s spaces: the Orient Express. I have a longstanding interest in British travellers to Iraq in the early 20th century, which brought me to investigate Christie\u2019s time in the country<\/a>. I found the resonance of Christie\u2019s travels to the Arab world beautifully evoked both in the Orient Express section and in the room that follows, dedicated to the archaeological dig. <\/p>\n As the exhibition describes, as a young woman, Christie was first taken to Cairo for her \u201ccoming out\u201d \u2013 an opportunity for upper-class young women to be formally introduced into society. As Christie describes in her autobiography<\/a>, \u201cif you were well off, your mother gave a dance for you. You were supposed to go for a season in London\u201d, but \u201cthere could be nothing like that in [Christie\u2019s] life\u201d. The Egyptian capital\u2019s season was an affordable alternative to a traditional, expensive London coming out. Once there, she was not much interested in the city\u2019s historical significance as a young girl, recalling: \u201cThe wonders of antiquity were the last thing I cared to see, and I am very glad [my mother] did not take me.\u201d <\/p>\n She would return to the region in 1928 on a whim, changing her original plans to travel to the Caribbean at the last minute after a chance conversation inspired her to travel to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on the Orient Express instead. It was on that trip that she became friendly with the eminent archaeologist, Leonard Woolley, and his wife, Katharine, a fan of Christie\u2019s writing. <\/p>\n Christie returned to Iraq to visit the couple at Ur (an ancient Sumerian city-state in southern Iraq) two years later. On that trip, she got to know Woolley\u2019s assistant, Max Mallowan. As Mallowan describes in his memoir<\/a>, Katharine urged the pair to take a trip together. As they took an impromptu swim in a saltwater lake, their car became stuck in the sand. <\/p>\n Mallowan describes how Christie\u2019s stoic response to this minor disaster confirmed to him that \u201cshe must be a remarkable woman\u201d. He proposed only a few months later, and the couple were married at St. Columba\u2019s Church in Edinburgh in September 1930.<\/p>\n Throughout their married life, Christie accompanied Mallowan on almost all his excavations. The couple had a house in Baghdad and made temporary homes around the region. The exhibition highlights Christie\u2019s often overlooked role on Mallowan\u2019s digs.<\/p>\n She was a skilled photographer, supervised workmen on site, and cared for their finds, even using her moisturiser to clean ancient artefacts. It is surprisingly moving to see the small typewriter \u2013 cutting-edge technology in its day \u2013 which enabled Christie to live nomadically and write anywhere. She used it to draft some of her most famous novels.<\/p>\n The exhibition\u2019s focus on space and place is mirrored in its investment in Christie as an author of global renown and influence. It underlines the ways in which Christie\u2019s work \u2013 so often dismissed as lightweight, middlebrow, popular fiction \u2013 continues to circulate around the world in translation and adaption. <\/p>\n The more problematic aspects of Christie\u2019s writing are also present. Attention is drawn to Christie\u2019s antisemitism and her casual racism<\/a>. The offensive original name of one of Christie\u2019s most popular novels, And Then There Were None<\/a> (1939) is never mentioned, but nevertheless it\u2019s clear that the novel evolved and its title was changed in light of changing societal attitudes.<\/p>\n Before entering the exhibition proper, visitors pass a wall of Christie\u2019s novels in translation. As we enjoy unauthorised Bollywood productions of And Then There Were None, posters advertising Shanghai productions of her play The Mousetrap, or interviews with Arab crime writers who reflect on Christie\u2019s global literary legacy, there are continual reminders of the ways in which her writing has always appealed to worldwide audiences, despite the limitations that the exhibition highlights and critiques.<\/p>\n The final and most modern room is the theatre. Here, the visitor is transported to the West End. A large screen plays a black and white video of Christie, incredibly humble, celebrating the tenth anniversary of The Mouse Trap at the Savoy Hotel in London in 1962. <\/p>\n It\u2019s difficult to overstate Christie\u2019s modern legacy. Her work has been loved and emulated by millions. Electronic screens in the final rooms showcase that she has now sold over two billion novels; that she was the first woman to have two West End shows running at the same time; that there have been over 7,236 translations of her work. <\/p>\n Even 50 years after her death, she has sold 42,779 books worldwide just this week. Impressive, informative, but most of all great fun, Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery is a must see for anyone who has enjoyed Christie\u2019s work.<\/p>\nChristie in the Middle East<\/h2>\n
Christie\u2019s international reputation<\/h2>\n
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