Alice Johnson – författare

Agatha Christie, the undisputed Queen of Crime, was the world’s bestselling novelist who made the whodunnit genre accessible to millions of readers around the world. But why was this household name a camera-shy recluse? With fresh insight from bestselling crime writers Val McDermid, Kate Mosse, Greg Mosse and Tess Gerritsen, author Alice Johnson delves into the murderous high society of Christie’s era. From Harrogate to Berkshire, Surrey to Devon, Johnson follows Christie’s trail to uncover the true essence of her persona.For the first time ever Christie’s strained relationship with the British media receives an in-depth analysis; exploring why they turned on the now-beloved crime writer, and how 1920s-era attitudes to mental health played a role in how the public perceived her. Johnson successfully tracks down the plucky schoolboy who door-stepped the Queen of Crime in 1971; and in an exclusive interview shares previously unheard anecdotes about her final years.In Finding Agatha: the Real Agatha Christie, Johnson also formulates a new definition of the murderous high-society featured in so many of Christie’s works: the ‘sitcrime’.Writer, globe-trotter, mother, dispenser, archaeologist, photographer, playwright, landlady: who was the real Agatha Christie? Find Agatha at www.findingagatha.com

This is a story about Leslie, a tall African American woman who''s smart, funny and enjoys lifes pleasure.

This book vividly reconstructs the social world of upper middle-class Belfast during the time of the city’s greatest growth, between the 1830s and the 1880s. Using extensive primary material including personal correspondence, memoirs, diaries and newspapers, the author draws a rich portrait of Belfast society and explores both the public and inner lives of Victorian bourgeois families. Leading business families like the Corrys and the Workmans, alongside their professional counterparts, dominated Victorian Belfast’s civic affairs, taking pride in their locale and investing their time and money in improving it. This social group displayed a strong work ethic, a business-oriented attitude and religious commitment, and its female members led active lives in the domains of family, church and philanthropy. While the Belfast bourgeoisie had parallels with other British urban elites, they inhabited a unique place and time: ‘Linenopolis’ was the only industrial city in Ireland, a city that was neither fully Irish nor fully British, and at the very time that its industry boomed, an unusually violent form of sectarianism emerged. Middle-Class Life in Victorian Belfast provides a fresh examination of familiar themes such as civic activism, working lives, philanthropy, associational culture, evangelicalism, recreation, marriage and family life, and represents a substantial and important contribution to Irish social history.

This book vividly reconstructs the social world of upper middle-class Belfast during the time of the city’s greatest growth, between the 1830s and the 1880s. Using extensive primary material including personal correspondence, memoirs, diaries and newspapers, the author draws a rich portrait of Belfast society and explores both the public and inner lives of Victorian bourgeois families. Leading business families like the Corrys and the Workmans, alongside their professional counterparts, dominated Victorian Belfast’s civic affairs, taking pride in their locale and investing their time and money in improving it. This social group displayed a strong work ethic, a business-oriented attitude and religious commitment, and its female members led active lives in the domains of family, church and philanthropy. While the Belfast bourgeoisie had parallels with other British urban elites, they inhabited a unique place and time: ‘Linenopolis’ was the only industrial city in Ireland, a city that was neither fully Irish nor fully British, and at the very time that its industry boomed, an unusually violent form of sectarianism emerged. Middle-Class Life in Victorian Belfast provides a fresh examination of familiar themes such as civic activism, working lives, philanthropy, associational culture, evangelicalism, recreation, marriage and family life, and represents a substantial and important contribution to Irish social history.