“The Mystery of Mrs. Christie” by Marie Benedict (post 2): Multiple-personality memory gaps of Agatha Christie and/or Marie Benedict

This novel’s conclusion to Agatha Christie’s real-life disappearance is that Mrs. Christie faked amnesia as part of a scheme to get her husband to name his mistress in their ensuing divorce proceedings. It makes no sense. There were much easier ways for her to embarrass him and his mistress, without embarrassing herself.

In an “Author’s Note” at the end of the novel, Marie Benedict admits that she concluded the novel this way, not because of any historical facts, but because Benedict is “a writer on a mission” to write about strong women, and “How could she have suffered from amnesia or gotten herself into some sort of fugue state, as some have theorized?” (1, pp. 263-264).

Ironically, Benedict does portray Agatha Christie, earlier that same year, as having a remarkable memory gap in another emotional situation. Following her mother’s death: “I didn’t remember much of the days that followed—the funeral planning, the travel from Abney to Ashfield, the arrival of family members, the service. Perhaps the gaps in my recollection were a godsend, as by all accounts, I became a howling, sobbing animal” (1, p. 178).

I don’t know whether the latter memory gap was based on any known history of Agatha Christie or reflects the psychology of Marie Benedict.

1. Marie Benedict. The Mystery of Mrs. Christie. Naperville IL, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2021.