“Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days” by Jared Cade vs. “Unfinished Portrait” by Agatha Christie (writing as Mary Westmacott)

Jared Cade is the leading exponent of the opinion that Agatha Christie’s amnesia during her disappearance was faked. So I looked to see what he says about Unfinished Portrait, Agatha Christie’s autobiographical novel, written under her pseudonym, Mary Westmacott. (An Autobiography written as Agatha Christie does not mention the disappearance.)

Cade says that “Unfinished Portrait is in many ways an autobiographical novel, tracing Agatha’s life from early childhood through her marriage to Archie and its painful dissolution. The characters of Celia and Dermot are based on the Christies, and there is a raw emotional quality to it that reflects how close it was to her own experience…

“Celia is horrified when Dermot suggests a put-up job for a divorce in which his mistress’s name is not to be mentioned…

“Unfinished Portrait recreates certain events from the day of Agatha’s disappearance…” (1, pp. 195-197).

However, Cade fails to mention what was most relevant:

“She walked for a long time—it was raining and wet…She couldn’t remember what she was walking for…What was her own name? How frightening—she couldn’t remember…” (2, p. 261).

Search “Unfinished Portrait.”

1. Jared Cade. Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days. London, Peter Owen, 1998/2011.

2. Mary Westmacott [pseudonym of Agatha Christie]. Unfinished Portrait [1934]. New York, Jove Books, 1987.