The world celebrates, on January 12, the fifty years since the death of Agatha Christie, the most famous writer of every era, with over two billion books sold all over the world, translations into more than a hundred languages, and characters, such as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, who have almost become our relatives, inevitable presences on the small and big screen. For the occasion, Mondadori has republished, in paperback version, ten of the most beloved titles by the famous mystery writer from Bodies in the sun to Cards on the table to Poirot’s last adventure. In February, an edition celebrating the centenary of will also appear in bookstores The assassination of Roger Ackroydwith an introduction by Antonella Lattanzi, while the version presented by Leonardo Sciascia is always available in the Cult Oscars.
Agatha Christie unsurpassed mystery writer, Agatha Christie, a great mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, affectionate, generous, always present, on whom her family could really count. Remembering this little-known aspect of the great writer is her great-grandson James Prichard who, at 56 years old, leads, as president, the Agatha Christie Limitedthe company founded by Christie herself, way back in 1955, to manage the rights to her books. The writer was very close to his only daughter RosalindJames’ grandmother, and her son Mathew, the grandson she adored who is James’ dad.
«I grew up in the memory of my great-grandmother whose legacy is both a fortune and a responsibility», says James, «My mother insisted that I behave well when I met her, and not run around, risking making her fall, because, at the time, Agatha Christie was 85 years old and very old. We often went to Greenway, the palace, in the south of England, where my great-grandmother spent her summers. When he passed away on January 12, 1976, my dad was very sad. The death was the first story on the evening news and I realized then, for the first time, how famous Agatha Christie was.”
What is the secret that makes Agatha Christie so popular even today?
«The plots of his books, so intelligent and sophisticated. And also the humanity of its characters. My dad says that my great-grandmother was the best listener he ever met and also a great knowledge of human beings and that it helped him a lot to confide in her. He also says that Agatha Christie sat on buses and in cafes listening to what people said because she was fascinated by them and advised aspiring writers to do the same.”
What does it mean to be his heir?
«When I was young, in the 1980s, Agatha Christie was no longer fashionable. My friends didn’t know her and I didn’t feel very comfortable as her heir. Today there is a real rediscovery and his characters are played by famous actors such as Kenneth Branagh and Hugh Laurie and in universities there are many literary experts who study his books. American director Rian Johnson, when talking about his series of crime films Knives outalways acknowledges that he was inspired by Agatha Christie. Almost all crime novel writers today claim to be indebted to her. I think it’s partly a question of fashion. Today the crime novel genre has become more important than when I was young, and we have also been able to successfully adapt his novels for cinema and television.”
What is the most important battle you waged to preserve the quality of your great-grandmother’s works?
«All the work we do aims to keep alive the Agatha Christie books that we publish around the world. When we transform them into television or film versions we are aware that we have to make his stories current for the twenty-first century but we never change the plots because, if we change even a small part of the plots, the stories no longer work.”
What film best interprets your novels?
«My father would say Murder on the Orient Expressdirected, in 1974, by Sidney Lumet because it was the first truly global success of a film based on a book by Agatha Christie. I edited the 2017 version, with Kenneth Branagh as director, which grossed $350 million and proved that we can reach millions of people.”
Who is, in your opinion, Agatha Christie’s literary heir?
«There are many and many, authors of detective novels, today recognize their debt towards my great-grandmother starting from Richard Osborne up to Val McDermid. Lucy Fowley is writing, for us, a new novel with Miss Marple as the protagonist which will be published next autumn. I don’t want to exaggerate but I would say that the “mystery novel” literary genre is the heir of Agatha Christie.”
Are you working on projects to make it known to the new generations?
“Yes. Precisely in these days, in bookshops in the United Kingdom, two booklets entitled are on sale Little Miss Marple: Murder at the Vicarage And Mr. Poirot: Mischief on the Nile (Little Miss Marple: Murder in the Vicarage and Mr. Poirot: Trouble on the Nile). They are designed for the little ones and the two famous detectives are played by Mr. Men and Little Miss, characters much loved by English children. So Poirot is helped in his work by Mr. Tickle, a little man with very long arms who tickles everyone he meets. We continually look for opportunities to reach younger people, even though most of our readers are a few years older. Agatha Christie is usually read by fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds who then put her aside to rediscover her as adults, but the majority of our readers are elderly.”
At what age did you read a book from your great-grandmother for the first time?
«When I was nine or ten. I started with Murder on the Nilewhich fascinated me, and then I continued with other books but then I stopped reading it and started reading it again when I was eighteen and, again, at twenty-six or twenty-seven. I think I’ve only really understood his work in the last eight or ten years, since I started running Agatha Christie Limited.”
In short, is your relationship with Agatha Christie, great-grandmother and writer, solid and deep?
“Yes, certainly. I have few personal memories but I discovered and loved her through her books. After all, it is in her works that she expressed herself and survives and it is with her books that she reached me and placed herself at the center of my life.”
