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Carina Grasbeck's avatar

I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie but it's impossible to say which of her books were my favourite. At school I probably read almost all of them. Even had a presentation of her as part of our litterature class. How could I forget she was born in Torquay! As a teenager I went there one summer month to improve my English 🤗

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Victoria's avatar

That's really amazing - I love that you spoke about her in your literature class! How did you find Torquay? And if you can't choose a favourite book, do you prefer Marple or Poirot?

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Carina Grasbeck's avatar

To be honest I prefer Poirot 🤗. And I really loved Torquay! Hadn't been anywhere but to Stockholm before so it was quite the adventure. Especially London!

I still have a bunch of pictures from those times that never made it into an album.

One of my Mum's best friends was a British woman who lived in Brighton so I visited her as well. No idea how I went there. By train probably. "Is this seat taken?" was a phrase we had rehearsed at the language school 😁

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Victoria's avatar

Aww I love this. It makes me so happy that you have nice memories of coming here. 🥰

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Kathryn Haines's avatar

This was such a beautiful and lovely read! I love Agatha Christie and Piorot, so this wa such a delight to see in my inbox.

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Victoria's avatar

Thank you so much for reading, Kathryn! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. ☺️

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Jenna's avatar

This is a lovely read. I really enjoy reading about your adventures ☺️ I also love Devon, it's such a beautiful place. I've never read an Agatha Christie book but now I'm thinking I should 🤔 x

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Victoria's avatar

Let me know if you try one out! Devon is gorgeous, isn’t it? I keep thinking about retiring there, although I’ve got probably 30 years until I call seriously consider that! 😂 x

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Jenna's avatar

There’s always the ‘feet pics’ route to take should you wish to retire early - me and my colleague joke about this all the time. haha.

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Victoria's avatar

My feet are awful - although I’m sure there’s someone out there with a bunion kink. 😂x

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Annie Graves's avatar

I was a big fan of Agatha Christie and like you, read most of them in my teens. Since then, I have loved the various tv adaptations, but haven't re read any of the novels. Your post has given me a nudge to remedy that!

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Victoria's avatar

I hope you fall back into them, Annie. I’ve just been buying the re-issued hardback editions and they’re so beautiful. It’s reignited my love all over again!

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Clare Louise Larkin's avatar

Victoria, my heart gave a lurch when I saw your photos as I lived just along the coast from Burgh Island. I go back as much as I can but do miss it. I love this post, exploring in the footsteps of an author is a wonderful idea and one I would like to do. I think my favourite is 4.50 from Paddington. I recently picked up a lovely hard copy from a local National trust. Thank you for taking us on this journey, a lovely read on a Sunday morning 🌻🌱🍀

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Victoria's avatar

I love 4.50 from Paddington too - that and At Bertram’s Hotel. It’s a gorgeous stretch of coastline there, isn’t it? Thank you so much for reading!

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Claudia Kollschen's avatar

Thank you for this lovely and interesting post, Victoria! I really enjoyed hearing about your personal history with Christie's work and why you keep coming back to it, as well as learning about Agatha's biographical background and the places that inspired some of her novels. As a writer, I'm always very interested in how places inspire a novel. ☺️

I hardly dare admit it, but I've never read an Agatha Christie novel. Shame on me! 😳 I can't even say why not, because it actually has all the ingredients that I really like. 🤔 I've only watched Kenneth Brannagh's Murder on the Orient Express and was rather disappointed.

But I think your post has just given me the motivation to read one of Agathe Christie's novels. If I like it, I'll have many more to go. Perfect! 😀

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Victoria's avatar

Yes! Let me know which one you decide to go for first. I love her books - it’s definitely worth trying one or two. If you can find it, the TV series they made here in the UK with David Suchet as Poirot is much more realistic. I prefer them to the films.

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Claudia Kollschen's avatar

I read Peril at End House yesterday, and I enjoyed it so much, I just started Dead Man's Folly at breakfast. 😄

Thank you for the TV series recommendation! 😊

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Victoria's avatar

This is wonderful! You started with two great examples too! ☺️

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