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Unfinished Portrait

A Mary Westmacott Novel

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Unfinished Portrait

By: Agatha Christie
Narrated by: Lewis Hancock
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About this listen

A stunning novel of death and destiny.

Bereft of the three people she has held most dear – her mother, her husband and her daughter – Celia is on the verge of suicide. Then one night on an exotic island she meets Larraby, a successful portrait painter, and through a long night of talk reveals how she is afraid to commit herself to a second chance of happiness with another person, yet is not brave enough to face life alone. Can Larraby help Celia come to terms with the past or will they part, her outcome still uncertain?

Famous for her ingenious crime books and plays, Agatha Christie also wrote about crimes of the heart, six bittersweet and very personal novels, as compelling and memorable as the best of her work.

©2011 Agatha Christie (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Classics Clean & Wholesome Crime Fiction Mystery Traditional Detectives Fiction Crime Romance Detective Heartfelt Suspense
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This is not a crime novel, although written by Agatha Christie. The opening is very arresting when the narrator stops a woman from committing suicide. The rest of the book is made up of the events that led her to this point, going right back to her childhood.

The early parts could have been tiresome being from her point of view as a child but Agatha Christie's writing is so engaging that it worked.

I have read Laura Wilson's biography of Christie and was sceptical at her technique of treating the books of Mary Westmacott as though they give facts about Christie's life. I still am sceptical but the story line here is so close to some of what is known about her that I can see that this is Christie working through events in her life and trying to make sense of them. I am still not sure I would treat the plot as proven facts but I can see the connection. It was that which made the story so interesting.

I enjoyed it very much.

Unexpectedly moving

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Not the story I expected from the opening. But in fact it completely fits the title. A portrait of a life, carefully painted, not coloured in to the end.

Exactly as the title says

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A story that grows on you. Agatha Christie draws on her own life and experience to produce this unfinished portrait of a life.

Give it time.

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This was just endless stream about someone's life. The narrator did try and make it entertaining by doing different voices for the different characters but I found it really hard to concentrate and follow as was so boring.

Really not for me

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