{"product_id":"agatha-christie-a-very-short-introduction-paperback-1","title":"Agatha Christie: A Very Short Introduction - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eGill Plain\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eVery Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAgatha Christie is a global bestseller. Her work has been translated into over 100 languages and adapted for stage and screen. Christie's writing life ran from 1920 to the 1970s, and she didn't just write puzzles, she wrote plays, supernatural stories, thrillers, satires, and domestic noir. She also commented obliquely but perceptively on the social and cultural changes of a troubled century. Christie's work tells the story of a changing Britain, but perhaps her greatest achievement is not to be limited by that national context. Her stories achieve the rare feat of appearing both universal and specific and can seemingly be adapted for almost any context. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis \u003cem\u003eVery Short Introduction \u003c\/em\u003einvestigates why the novels of a middle-class, middlebrow Englishwoman were so successful, and why they continue to appeal to such a broad range of readers. Chapters explore the context of Christie's writing, and the clue-puzzle detective fiction structure at which she excelled, but they also question the familiar assumptions that surround her and what we think we know about her work. Gill Plain examines Christie's capacity to register the zeitgeist, and consider how her novels reveal anxieties surrounding gender roles, the family, war, justice, ethics, and nation. Her fascination with hypocrisy, power, abuse, deceit, and despair continues to resonate with readers - and screenwriters - who respond to her light touch and dark imagination to repurpose her stories with the fears and desires most appropriate to their time. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eABOUT THE SERIES: The \u003cem\u003eVery Short Introductions\u003c\/em\u003e series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eGill Plain, \u003cem\u003e Professor of English Literature and Popular Culture at the University of St Andrews\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGill Plain is Professor of English at the University of St Andrews. Alongside a lifelong preoccupation with crime fiction, she has research interests in British literature, cinema, and culture of the mid-twentieth century, war writing, feminist theory and gender studies. She is the author of \u003cem\u003eWomen's Fiction of the Second World War\u003c\/em\u003e (1996); \u003cem\u003eTwentieth-Century Crime Fiction: Gender, Sexuality and the Body\u003c\/em\u003e (2001); and \u003cem\u003eLiterature of the 1940s: War, Postwar and 'Peace'\u003c\/em\u003e (2013).\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 160\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.4 x 6.5 x 4.2 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 23, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52704501072179,"sku":"9780198863748","price":21.02,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/JyqPUglDgF9780198863748_e58455c8-677e-4c10-aee9-c291d0152a6f.webp?v=1763355600","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/products\/agatha-christie-a-very-short-introduction-paperback-1","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}