For as long as I remember I have been overcome by the urge to "reset". As a child this presented as excitement over a new exercise book. Maybe this time I could write neatly. As a teen, the urge manifested itself as a longing to move overseas, to be somewhere(one) different. A few years ago a story I read inspired me to do just that.
A clean slate, an escape, a reset, a fresh start...when I'm feeling overwhelmed I still get that urge. Often this results in travel fantasies but this week I didn't have the money or headspace to even dream of that. I just wanted my Mum.
It's World Book Day today and I'd always planned to write a post about Agatha Christie but this week, as I long for escapism, this post feels particularly fitting..
I am fascinated by crime. I like to think it's my love of problem-solving and trying to understand people, rather than a morbid fascination with murder. I was introduced to crime novels by Agatha Christie. She wrote 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections and her books have sold more than two billion copies, making her the most successful fiction author of all time. She is also the most-translated individual author.[1]
Christie's stage play The Mousetrap, which opened in 1952, holds the world record for the longest running play.
As impressive as this is, it is Agatha's impulsivity, wanderlust and sense of adventure that has long captured my attention.
I know a kindred spirit when I see one.
In 1926, she impulsively left her problems behind and checked out of her life, checking into the Swan Hotel in Harrogate under an assumed identity.
Like me, she also indulged her escapism through historical research and travel. Her wanderlust took her to Istanbul, Iraq, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Canada and South Africa, where she was among one of the first Britons to surf standing up.
