Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is not a stranger to any avid book reader. Her full name was Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller. She was a prolific novelist, poet, and short story writer. She has written in several genres like the Murder mystery, romance, thriller, detective, and crime fiction. Her birthday fells on September 15, 1980. She grew up in an affluent family which resided in Torquay, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Her mother, step-grandmother, and aunt were all strong women who shaped her thought process and inspired her. She has also authored several books under the pen name of Mary Westmacott.

She initially started as a nurse working in the Devon hospital during the World War I. At the time of Second World War, she was assisting at a pharmacy store in University College Hospital, London. While working there, she got to know a lot about the various types of poisons. She utilized her newly acquired knowledge in much of her writings. From a young age, she was not an outdoor person and would spend most of her time either reading or playing indoors with her pet dog.

She would also play mandolin and piano. At the minor age of ten, she scrawled her first poem named, The cowslip. When she turned eleven, her father passed away due to ill-health. It was a humongous jolt to the family and they had to go through some financial difficulties. After the death of Agatha's father, her mother enrolled her in the Miss Guyer's Girls School. However, she found the atmosphere too disciplined an strict for her and had difficulty adjusting to it.

In 1910, she came back to her birthplace and resumed writing. Initially, Agatha faced a lot of rejections from the publishers and struggled a lot. In 1920, she struck gold with The Mysterious Affair at Styles since then she has produced several literary greats like The Secret Adversary, Murder on the Orient Express, Murder on the Links, And Then There Were None, and much more. The public and critics rechristened her as the Queen of the Crime.

According to Guinness World Records, she is the best-selling author. Publishers have sold nearly two billions of Agatha's books which is the third-best figure after Shakespeare and Bible. Several publishers and translators have released her works in more than hundred languages. She married twice in her lifetime, first to Archibald Christie and later to Sir Max Mallowan. Agatha passed away on January 12, 1976. Several filmmakers have created fictional shows and documentaries on her.