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Absent In The Spring

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by Mary Westmacott

Summary

Genre: General Fiction

Format: Novel

Location: Mesopotamia

Synopsis

A psychological exploration of a woman's identity crisis, which occurs during a brief period of isolation from family and friends in Mesopotamia. Given time for introspection, Joan Scudamore realizes her life has been one of self-deception, and she returns home with a resolve to be more forthright in her relationships.

An intense and imaginative description of a woman's emotional memories, Christie wrote this novel in three days. In her autobiography she wrote, "it was written with integrity, with sincerity. It was written as I meant to write it, and that is the proudest joy an author can have."

What fans say

: betty_barnard
"I'm a recent reader of the Mary Westmacotts and, apart from Unfinished Portrait, I could hardly believe I was reading Agatha Christie. Absent in the Spring in particular I thought was very good. It worked for me on many levels as a story: about what it's like to be on your own; about how a person can live a life oblivious to how others see them; about how sometimes a person faced with a fork in the road just takes the nicest looking path. I would love to know if other people thought that Joan made the right decision in the end. "
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