She had assumed the last name of Archie's mistress and claimed to have no memory of how she ended up there. After an extensive manhunt and much publicity, she was found living under a false name in Yorkshire. Agatha took it hard and mysteriously disappeared for a period of 10 days. In 1926, Archie Christie announced to Agatha that he had a mistress and that he wanted a divorce. It was soon followed by the successful novels "The Secret Adversary" (1922) and "Murder on the Links" (1923) and various short stories. Agatha's debut novel was first published in 1920 and turned out to be a hit. Their only child Rosalind Margaret Clarissa Christie (1919-2004) was born early in the marriage. The novel is set in World War I and is one of the few of her works which are connected to a specific time period.įollowing the end of World War I and their retirement from military life, Agatha and Archie Christie moved to London and settled into civilian life. The novel introduced her famous character Hercule Poirot and his supporting characters Inspector Japp and Arthur Hastings. She ended her service in September, 1918.Īgatha wrote "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", her debut novel ,in 1916, but was unable to find a publisher for it until 1920. Then she was promoted to "apothecaries' assistant" (dispenser), a position which earned her a small salary until the end of the war. She performed unpaid work as a volunteer nurse from 1914 to 1916. Her married name became "Agatha Christie" and she used it for most of her literary works, including ones created decades following the end of her first marriage.ĭuring World War I, Archie Christie was send to fight in the war and Agatha joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment, a British voluntary unit providing field nursing services. Meanwhile she was searching for a suitable husband and in 1913 accepted a marriage proposal from military officer and pilot-in-training Archibald "Archie" Christie.
While still in this point of her life, Agatha sought advise from professional writer Eden Phillpotts (1862-1960). Several of these unpublished works were later revised into more successful ones. She submitted them to various publishers and literary magazines, but they were all rejected. She then returned to her surviving family in England.Īs a young adult, Agatha aspired to be a writer and produced a number of unpublished short stories and novels. She continued her education in Paris, France from 1905 to 1910. Agatha was sent to a girl's school in Torquay, Devon, where she studied from 1902 to 1905.
Her parents taught her how to read, write, perform arithmetic, and play music. Agatha received home education from early childhood to when she turned 12-years-old in 1902. Her father was a relatively affluent stockbroker. Agatha was of American and British descent, her father being American and her mother British. Agatha was born as "Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller" in 1890 to Frederick Alvah Miller and Clara Boehmer.