Review: Unfinished Portrait by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)

What: Unfinished Portrait by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)

Who: HarperCollins Publishers

When: 1997

How: Purchased.

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?

Unfinished Portrait begins with a simple interaction between a man and a woman. Larraby, and Celia. Although there is nothing normal about this meeting, nor was it just chance. Celia is contemplating suicide. She has lost everything and everyone that she has ever cared for, has made decisions she wished she had not, and does not believe that life holds any future chance of happiness. Larraby spends the night with Celia, listening to her story, and the reasons behind her desire for death. It is Celia’s life story that comprises the larger part of this novel.

I suppose I quite liked this book. It was simple, and followed the life of a woman, from infancy until her mid-thirties.

There was no real climax, or lead up to anything. It was almost like reading a short biography of Celia’s life, rather than a work of fiction. Since reading the book I have become aware that this is actually a semi-autobiographical account of Christie’s own life. I find this highly intriguing, and interesting, and I wish I had known that when I was reading this book.

Celia was a likeable character, although her attitude towards her husband irritated me. It was as if she would do everything just to please him, or not do something if it displeased him.

I loved the descriptions of the characters in the book, and Celia’s love for her childhood home.

All in all, a pretty calming book (if a book may be described as such).

This is the first Agatha Christie novel I have ever read, and I must say I am interested in reading not just her other Mary Westmacott novels, but her famous crime novels, as well.

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