When I was in high school this was one of my absolute favorite novels and when I recently re-discovered the very same copy that I bought at a B. Dalton bookstore in the mid-80s I was thrilled, both to find it again and to re-read it and realize I had not built up its greatness in my mind.
There is a new biography (out this month) on Agatha Christie that I have only just started, but am already liking. There is so much I did not know about her, including her very deep love for music and yet I can recognize in words she wrote about her own life what has always drawn me to Giant's Bread
Author Laura Thompson (who spends quality time on Agatha Christie's books as well as her life) writes this about what led up to writing Giant's Bread:
"Sane, wise, realistic Agatha: her idea of misery, in the confessions entry that she made in 1903, was to 'wish for the unattainable,' and this was what she truly believed."
Talking about giving up what she loves most, character Jane Harding says, "I pretend I don't mind-but I do...I do. I loved singing. I loved it, loved it, loved it."
That horrible pain that comes with giving up something close to you is captured so well, both in the words themselves and the cover (one of many different ones over the years and, I think, the best).
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