Agatha Christie Bus

Agatha Christie Bus

Saturday 9 April 2011

The Secret Adversary

One of my favourites where we are introduced to Tommy and Tuppence. It's interesting as they have both been demobbed from the first world war and can't find any work and are very short of money. This is what I love about Agatha Christie - she writes in what was for her the present and it provides an insight as to what life was like.
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10 comments:

  1. Patricia10 April 2011 at 19:43

    Anne, same here! I find this very interesting as she lived through turbulent times (WWI and WWII); after her bitter divorce she saw her own class status change, and she was a keen observer of her own class.

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  2. Peg17 April 2011 at 15:31

    Tommy & Tuppence are my favorite characters by Agatha. I love the old 1980's TV series also. Such fun.

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  3. Patricia25 April 2011 at 20:04

    Anne, just found out in the USA this book is now free on the web, as its copyright ran out. One can read or print for 'free'. I am curious to know which version/year you have as it was Agatha's 'second' book.

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  4. Anne27 April 2011 at 06:37

    Patricia - yes it is free on the web in the UK as well. I have quite a few versions of this book so will check the dates.

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  5. Anne27 April 2011 at 11:29

    The oldest Secret Adversary I have was published in 1955.

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  6. Patricia9 May 2011 at 14:41

    Anne,the first edition 1922 does not seem to have a book cover, looks more like a manuscript. I have put this free book on my Nook e-reader and have started to meet "Prudence Cowley, fifth daughter of Archdeacon Cowley of Little Missendell, Suffolk." Agatha never in a million years would have thought her books would be in electronic form, you agree?

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  7. Anne10 May 2011 at 10:01

    Yes it is quite amazing now books in digital form. There was an advert on TV the other night for the Amazon Kindle and it is so small and lightweight incredible that it can store so much. My beef about e-books at the moment is that they are just as expensive as paperbacks. I still love the feel of a real book.

    However, I think if you have to travel a lot then the e-books would be ideal.

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  8. Patricia11 May 2011 at 07:56

    I agree, Anne.
    Maybe you can post this 1955 book cover. Anne, I am wondering what "Shades of Pelmanism" means( as Tommy Beresford says this)?. Also, in this novel many London streets and sites are mentioned (Piccadily,Dover Street, South Belgravia, St James Park), and I wonder how often Agatha travelled to London and how well she really knew London as she lived on the outskirts.

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  9. Anne11 May 2011 at 09:18

    I'll post the cover on the FB page Patricia.

    I think she probably knew London quite well. I guess she went there on shopping trips, theatre, museum etc.

    No I have never heard of that phrase before I will try and see if I can find out!

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  10. Patricia24 August 2011 at 12:59

    Anne, I finished this book recently and I would like to add that I was very much amazed at the ending. I had a lucky guess as to who was the the "secret adversary". What a clever and amazing ending, we find out not only the truth but the when it is finally revealed we find inside another jewel of a story! If the story seems a bit too dated and even the characters a bit too flat - the ending most definetly makes up for all this and then some. Tommy and Tuppence did not know just how much their fate depended on each other's strenghts - as Agatha showed that youth has its own merits.

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