The Grand Tour: Around the World with the Queen of Mystery

This first published collection of Christie's correspondence will delight the many fans of her novels. Edited by Christie's grandson, Prichard, the book chronicles what Christie herself considered one of the most exciting times of her life: a 1922 round-the-world trip promoting the 1925 British Empire Exhibition. Her husband, Archibald, served as financial advisor, and the couple sailed from England through Gibraltar, southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Canada. The trip is documented in this series of letters to family and accompanying photographs. The enthusiastic Christie can't help but create interesting characters out of her fellow travelers and resident British colonists, and the result is a very good read. (Who would have expected she was hooked on surfing?) This book is also a fascinating look at the British empire in the 1920s. Despite the saggy woolen clothes and oppressive heat, these colonies still inspired certain expectations in their British visitors: proper tea and people of one's own kind.