Saturday, February 4, 2017

Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie

Taken at the Flood - book 27 in the Hercule Poirot series 
by Agatha Christie
mystery 1948
kindle 
finished 1/16/17  







The book cover picture comes from my one of my Agatha Christie reference books, 


 which has this to say:


Agatha uses the speech in her epigraph:

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

It has been ages since I've read an Agatha book, and the old familiar feeling came back as soon as I began; that feeling of ah, I can completely sit back and relax because my reading is in the hands of a master. She really can tell a tale better than almost anyone. As they say, even her worst writing is better than most people's good writing. Her intelligence, her good sense when it comes to characters, her settings all combine to make a great reading experience. 

Another of my reference books 



says that the bombing in the book comes from the bombing of her own house in London during the war. The houses right around hers were "completely flattened," while hers suffered only external damage. Most of the contents were fine. Just this kind of randomness happens in Taken at the Flood. The twenty-four year old Rosaleen married the sixty-two year old Gordon Cloade and two weeks later a blast 
blew the basement in and ripped off the roof. First floor practically wasn't touched. Six people in the house. Three servants: married couple and a housemaid, Gordon Cloade, his wife and the wife's brother. They were all down in the basement except the wife's brother...
The only survivors were the wife and her brother who come to the family estate in Warmsley Vale. Gordon did not make a new will in those two weeks of married life, so his family who were to be the beneficiaries now receive nothing because his old will is 'revoked by his marriage.' I was amazed at this law - that the wife automatically got the money. What hardships this placed on the family. 
The rich, childless man had taken all his relatives completely under his wing. ... Yes, they had all depended on Gordon Cloade. Not that any of the family had been spongers or idlers. Jeremy Cloade was senior partner in a firm of solicitors, Lionel Cloade was in practice as a doctor. But behind the workaday life was the comforting assurance of money in the background. There was never any need to stint or to save. The future was assured.
A stranger comes to town saying that perhaps the first husband is still alive, which would of course make Rosaleen's second marriage invalid, and the money would all go to the family. Or if she died, the same thing would occur.

I read this for the 


and I took special note of life in the third year after the end of the war. The young Wren who had done overseas service is thrilled to come home again ... for about three days. 
And already a curious dissatisfied restlessness was creeping over her. It was all the same - almost too much all the same - the house and Mums and Rowley and the farm and the family. The thing that was different was herself....
And her mother's life
Except for a rather unreliable woman who came four mornings a week, Mrs. Marchmont was alone in the house, struggling with cooking and cleaning. ...   The small but adequate fixed income which had kept them going comfortably before the war was now almost halved by taxation. Rates, expenses, wages had all gone up. 
A farmer says
"I'm only just keeping my head above water as it is. And what with not knowing what this damned Government is going to do next - hampered at every turn - snowed under with forms, up to midnight trying to fill them in sometimes - it's too much for one man."
There is mention of an 'ill will' and 'ill feeling' that is everywhere. 
On railways and buses and in shops and amongst workers and clerks and even agricultural laborers. 
The book offers such a strong sense of English life in 1948. The atmosphere is almost a character in the story. The characters' actions and reactions are in response to the social, monetary, and political situation of the post-war years. I really enjoyed the book and learned so much.

27 comments:

  1. I just watched the wonderful David Suchet as Poirot with this story. Quite different than the book, it appears. But beautifully done. What a different world it was.
    Mary

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    1. It sure was a different world. I haven't seen the televised version. I should look into it. Thanks.

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  2. Now, I don't want you to faint when I type this, but, I haven't ever read an Agatha Christie novel. You have talked me into it though. I am looking forward to it.

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    1. I hadn't either until a few years ago, and now if you look under authors (under blog header picture), you may see I've read a lot! She is absolutely great. She had such an understanding of the human psyche.

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  3. I too have seen the David Suchet version, but never read the book. Must add to my list.

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  4. Read this one years ago, but remember very little of it. I should read it again.

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    1. I think it is worth your time to reread it. It is a shortish book.

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  5. The plot sounds excellent and you are inspiring me to read Agatha Christie again, this one in particular.

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  6. I’ve read a few Agatha Christie’s but not Taken at the flood, but now I know it was published in ‘our’ birth year I really do want to read it. I loved your review you made it sound so interesting and definitely one to look out for. Thanks for coming over to my blog earlier today, it is always lovely to hear from you.

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  7. I thought I'd read most of Agatha Christie's books, but this doesn't ring any bells. I must find a copy now!

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    1. I thought I had, too. But I counted and I think I have twenty-something to read!

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  8. I had to chuckle at Lisa's comment above, as I've only read one book by AC. I'm looking forward to trying more of her classics and this one sounds very good, too. Excellent review, Nan. You've really piqued my curiosity.

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  9. This is not one of my favorites, Nan, because I had trouble liking anyone. Well, that happens occasionally with Christie, truth to tell. But I've still read it several times. Last time though, years ago.

    The Cloade family in the book are actually a bunch of spongers don't you think? Yes, they've been encouraged to sponge, but still, honestly...Get a job. Don't stand around wringing your hands and waiting for the money. But maybe that's just me.

    England after the war is such a conundrum to me. What happened? Was it simply the change in government? As one character says in the television series FOYLE'S WAR - 'we did win the war didn't we?'

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    1. Not one of my faves, either! There have been a few Agathas in which I didn't like anyone! I agree with your view of the Cloades.
      I would like to read a good book about post-war England. I remember that line in Foyle's. They did win, but there was so much damage.

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    2. You know who might be able to recommend a good post war book on England is Lyn over at I PREFER READING.
      https://preferreading.wordpress.com/

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  10. I share your birth year, and to read of happenings in England right after the war is especially fascinating. My husband's maternal relatives were British although residing in US by this time. They emigrated after WW I. My best friend's mom was an English war bride, and I heard of her experiences during WW II in England, especially the bombing. "Well, we were young, you know. After work, we would go to the cinema even though we could hear the bombing in the distance. When we came outside, we could see fires in Birmingham."

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    1. Hello fellow 48er! Thank you for sharing your stories. It's a fascinating subject.

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  11. It's exactly right the way you describe the feeling when you open an Agatha. You are being taken care of and you will have a great experience. I thought maybe I'd read this but wasn't sure, so I went to Amazon to check -- actually I tried to buy it for Kindle, but I got a message that said something like "silly person, you already ordered this on December xx, 2012.." (or something like that).... I've already learned that they do that and it was faster to do it this way than to search through my Kindle Library ;>). This might mean that I should just re-read all the Agathas I have instead of buying anything new.... apparently it would feel like new again.

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    1. I'm laughing! Donald Hall's mother said that was one of the best things about growing older - that you could reread and not remember the plot!

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  12. You would probably enjoy this book which I reviewed on my blog in 2011. Your description of "Taken at the Flood" makes it sound really good. If I should happen to come across it, I guess I'd download/read it. Thank you!

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    1. This isn't the best work she's done. If you want to get some other ideas, you may click on the 'authors' tab under the blog header picture, and scroll down to her name. All the book reports are there. She has written some excellent stuff!

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  13. Well, this just sounds like a fascinating history lesson in addition to being a nice mystery story! The "misapplication" of the law makes fertile ground, doesn't it? Although the law protects a wife from becoming impoverished and homeless upon her husband's death (normally a good thing), in a May/December marriage the result is certainly odd, even unjust. That's a nice wrinkle to start a story from.

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    1. It seems like Agatha was always coming up with interesting things like this. Reading her keeps my mind working!

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