Title: Absent in the Spring
Author: Agatha Christie
Category: Fiction
Page Count: 192
Rating: 3.5/5
Another fairly typical entry into Agatha Christie’s Mary Westmacott books, which are usually described as romance-based but which I’d argue are more like contemporaries, albeit contemporaries from a different time.
In this one, the protagonist gets stuck in the desert with nothing but her own thoughts, and after she burns through all of her paper and ink writing letters on the first morning, she becomes increasingly reflective. As a result, we sort of slowly see her life in pieces as it slowly flashes before her eyes.
It’s an okay little read, and as I’ve found with the other Westmacott books, it’s best enjoyed if you just want to enjoy some well-written sentences and some philosophy about Christie’s life, times and societies.
So would I recommend it? I mean yeah, I guess. Most of the die-hard Christie fans that I know have no interest in the Westmacott books, and that’s fair enough. As for me, I’ve quite enjoyed them so far, and it certainly doesn’t feel like a chore. Try it!
