Absent in the Spring: A Novel
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Agatha Christie, famous for her ingenious crime novels, also wrote about crimes of the heart. Written under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, Christieâs tales of romantic suspense further explore the human psychology she was so intrigued by, freed from the expectations of her mystery fans. Â
In one of six novels written under this nom de plume, Absent in the Spring tells the story of Joan Scudmore who, returning from a visit to her daughter in Iraq, finds herself unexpectedly alone and stranded in an isolated rest house by flooding of the railway tracks. This sudden solitude compels Joan to assess her life for the first time ever and face up to many difficult truths about herself. Looking back over the years, Joan painfully re-examines her attitudes, relationships and actions and becomes increasingly uneasy about the person who is revealed to herâĻÂ
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Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She died in 1976, after a prolific career spanning six decades.
