By_the_Pricking_of_My_Thumbs

1) Give s brief outline of the main plot and characters of the book. What do you think are the main themes that the book is trying to address' I should point out, before I start, that this was the very first of Agatha Christie’s books that I have ever read, so I may have missed something that would be evident to her fans. On the other hand, because I’m new to her writing, my observations are solely based on this novel, and not on the rest of her writings, which leaves no room for bias. The story revolves around Tommy and Tuppence, a old and dull couple, who have lost the excitement of their youth. Unlike the time when they were young and restless, solving crime, and fighting against injustice, Tommy and Tuppence now live a quiet life, away from the reaches of danger. The conflict starts when Tommy and Tuppence go and visit Tommy's Aunt Ada or Miss Ada Maria Fanshawe in Sunny Ridge Nursing Home. While Tommy or Thomas Beresford is chatting with his aunt, Tuppence or Mrs Beresford or Prudence Cowley is chatting with another elderly women named Mrs. Lancaster. Mrs Lancaster startles Tuppence when she asks "Was it your poor child." After leaving the nursing home she is thinking more and more about Mrs Lancaster. Then, a couple weeks later Aunt Ada dies. Soon after Aunt Ada dies Tommy and Tuppence go to the nursing house to get Aunt Ada's things. Tuppence finds a picture which looks familiar. She has seen the house before. She finds out the picture belonged to Mrs. Lancaster. She wants to meet Mrs. Lancaster, however, Mrs. Lancaster has been mysteriously whisked away from the nursing home by relatives who left no forwarding address. While her husband Tommy is away, Tuppence tries to track down an elderly woman who has disappeared from a nursing home. She finds she's in over her head as she finds the disappearance is connected to a gang of thieves and to a series of murders of children years ago. The ending of this story is unexpected because the murderer of the children and also Mrs Moody is Mrs Lancaster or Mrs Yorke, the person that Mr and Mrs Beresford want to find. In my opinion, this novel portrays the themes of honesty and also love. Besides, its main theme is the dedication of a couple to find out the answer of the mystery. The couple is Tommy and Tuppencce. They are determined to find out the reasons of the death of Mrs Moody and the secrets on the picture which is belonged to the missing elderly, Mrs Lancaster. The main characters of this story are Mr and Mrs Beresford and Mrs Lancaster. The Mr and Mrs Beresford play the role of detectives while Mrs Lancaster is the person who Mr and Mrs Beresford investigated. 2) What did you particularly like about the way that the book was written' Your answer should focus upon the way in which the story was told, the order of events and how the book built up atmosphere. I like the way that the book was written because it was written orderly. The story begins with the statement describing the main characters and that statement encouraged me to continue my reading. Besides, its plot is very well formulated and most of the time, the readers will ask themselves various kinds of questions because the story is full of suspense. Moreover, the very nature of the solution comes as a great shock to the reader, as it's completely unexpected. In addition, the entire novel, in fact, carries an underlying tone of omnipresent evil, foreboding and fear, which serves to create a wonderful atmosphere. Last but no least, the themes portrayed in this novel are very special and unique. These are all the reasons why I like the way of delivering the information of this story. 3) What do you think were the weaknesses of the way in which the story was told' Every book has weaknesses, so even if you think the book was excellent, give some thought to how you think it can be improved. The weaknesses of the way in which the story was told are the boring and unattractive beginning, confusing storyline and also abundant of characters. In my humble opinion, the first few chapters were not so interesting and did not seem to catch my attention. Honestly, I did not enjoy this book because it was confusing and if I missed a single part of the book, then I would basically lost for the rest of the book. Besides, there were also too many characters with weird life stories that were not important until the very end. It was very complicated and difficult to understand. Thus, I hope that the characters in this novel can be reduced to half of its original number of characters and also the beginning of the story can be improved by adding some suspense events. 4) Please give some details about the author of the book and any other books that he/she has written. You may use the information from the book itself but should also check the publishers website on the Internet to find out a little more about the author, his/her interests and ideas. Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born at home on September 15, 1890. She was the third child of Frederick Alvah and Clarissa Beochmer Miller. Her father was an American who had been living in England for twenty years. Her mother was English. Agatha lived at Ashfield in Torquay, Devonshire. Agatha never went to school. Her mother believed education destroyed the brain and ruined the eyes. She taught Agatha history and something called "general knowledge" while her father taught her arithmetic. However, her father died when she was 11 years old. After the death of her father, Agatha was taken to arithmetic classes twice a week. Her teachers instilled a respect for money in her. She also took Swedish exercise classes, piano, singing, and dancing lessons. At 16, she attended finishing school in Paris, where she remained for two years. She spoke French and German. She also took gymnastics and tennis lessons. As a young woman, she was attached to her mother. Mrs. Miller wanted her daughter to be a concert pianist or a professional opera singer. Agatha was a talented pianist and had a clear soprano voice. However, Agatha preferred nursing. She was described as tall, Scandinavian in coloring with reddish-gold hair, nice, fun, shy, bright, and loyal. After finishing school, Agatha spent three months in Egypt with her mother. During this time, she was officially engaged to Reggie Lucy, a major in the gunners. Upon returning to England, Agatha met Lieutenant Archibald Christie of the Royal Field Artillery, later of the Royal Flying Corps. Archibald was described as steady and popular by a fellow officer. After a two year engagement, Agatha and Archibald were married by special license at the parish church of Emmanuel, Clifton, Bristol, on December 24, 1914. During the war, she became a nurse near Torquay to be near her mother. She was a favorite with the recovering soldiers. She soon advanced to the dispensary. She used her nursing experience later to write her first detective novel. For your information, And Then There Were None is the bestselling novel around the world. It is one of her acknowledged masterpieces.  Agatha's off-duty hours were spent plotting, planning, and writing. Between 1940 and 1945, ten new novels were published and two stage adaptations of earlier novels were made. She also wrote the last Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries. These were to be kept in her publisher's vault. Neither would be published until after her death. She deeded all rights to her novels to her husband and her daughter. Her fifty-sixth novel was published in 1950. Her short story, "Three Blind Mice", was first aired on the radio in 1947. It was adapted to a stage play and called "The Mousetrap". It holds the record as the longest running play produced. It opened on the London stage in 1952. On the night of Agatha's death, "The Mousetrap" was giving its 9,612th consecutive performance. In conclusion, Agatha Christie was revered as a master of suspense, plotting and characterization by most of her contemporaries and, even today, her stories have received glowing reviews in most literary circles. Fellow crime writer Anthony Berkeley Cox was an admitted fan of her work, once saying that nobody can write an Agatha Christie novel but the authoress herself.