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Andrew Eames
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The 8:55 to Baghdad: From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie Kindle Edition

by Andrew Eames (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 out of 5 stars 132 ratings
“A winning blend of travelogue and literary biography” by a British journalist who travels the journey Agatha Christie once did from London to Iraq. (Entertainment Weekly)

With her marriage to her first husband over, Agatha Christie decided to take a much needed holiday; the Caribbean had been her intended destination, but a conversation at a dinner party with a couple who had just returned from Iraq changed her mind. Five days later she was off on a completely different trajectory. Merging literary biography with travel adventure, and ancient history with contemporary world events, Andrew Eames tells a riveting tale and reveals fascinating and little-known details of this exotic chapter in the life of Agatha Christie. His own trip from London to Baghdad--a journey much more difficult to make in 2002 with the political unrest in the Middle East and the war in Iraq, than it was in 1928--becomes intertwined with Agatha's, and the people he meets could have stepped out of a mystery novel. Fans of Agatha Christie will delight in Eames' description of the places and events that appeared in and influenced her fiction--and armchair travelers will thrill in the exotica of the journey itself.

“Agatha Christie fans, as well as connoisseurs of fine travel writing, will relish British journalist Eames's gripping, humorous and eye-opening account of his train and bus trip across Europe and the Middle East on the eve of the second Gulf War.” Publisher’s Weekly

Second;Iraq;Gulf;war;Kurds;Armenians;Palestinians;English;travel;writer;writing;1928;bestselling;mystery;author;English;crime;writer;Europe;passenger;train;memoir;literary;biography;adventure;travel;history;autobiography;holiday;Middle;East;Damascus;Ur;Syria;archaeology

TRV026090    TRAVEL / Special Interest / Literary

BIO007000     BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary Figures

BIO026000     BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs

TRV015000    TRAVEL / Middle East / General

9781468306415

Candlemoth

Ellory, R.J.
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  1. Print length
    410 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    The Overlook Press
  4. Publication date
    May 2, 2006
  5. File size
    3.5 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Agatha Christie fans, as well as connoisseurs of fine travel writing, will relish British journalist Eames's gripping, humorous and eye-opening account of his train and bus trip across Europe and the Middle East on the eve of the second Gulf War. A chance stay in a Syrian hotel where Christie once stayed prompts Eames to attempt to follow in the bestselling author's footsteps. Despite the awkward timing, Eames (Crossing the Shadow Lines: Travels in South-East Asia) finds many friendly faces, even in Iraq, where a close call with a mysterious explosion curtails his journey. Admirers of the creator of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot will learn more about her relationship with the peoples of the region (Kurds, Armenians and Palestinians), as well as the real-life inspiration for her classic 1934 novel, Murder on the Orient Express: a blizzard that stranded the historic train for nine days in 1929. Especially engaging is the way Eames describes his traveling companions on the last leg of his odyssey as if they were the cast of characters in a typical Christie mystery. (May 31)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In 1938, when she was 38, Agatha Christie took a 3,000-mile train ride on the Orient Express from London to Baghdad. Eames retraces her journey, describing many of the places and events that influenced Christie's fiction. Along the way, he offers some background on her early life: her father died when she was 11, she later married Max Mallowan, an archaeologist. Eames relates a brief history of the Orient Express and recounts his visits to Baghdad, Damascus, Trieste, Zagreb, Belgrade, Sofia, Istanbul, and other cities. Throughout, he writes about the people he met--fellow passengers, taxi drivers, hotel managers, guides, and military escorts--and the hotel rooms he stayed in. Armchair travelers will enjoy the journey. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07NGSBB66
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Overlook Press; 1st edition (May 2, 2006)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 2, 2006
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.5 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 410 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 132 ratings

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Andrew Eames

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
132 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book interesting, with one review highlighting its acute observations of people and politics, and another noting its scholarly descriptions of archaeological sites. The book receives positive feedback for its readability, with one customer describing it as a thoroughly enjoyable read.

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12 customers mention "Interest"9 positive3 negative

Customers find the book engaging, with one review highlighting its scholarly descriptions of archaeological sites and acute observations of people and politics.

"...-up in a bar, it contains some hard-core history, acute observations of people and politics and is a great - too rapidly finished- read...." Read more

"An interesting and amusing book, and a good beach read...." Read more

"...of the people he meets and the places he visited are both vivid and perceptive... THE 8:55 TO BAGHDAD is a thoroughly enjoyable read that combines..." Read more

"...Scholarly descriptions of archaeological sites and digs, plus fascinating stories of buried treasure being unearthed after several thousand years." Read more

9 customers mention "Readability"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and interesting, with one describing it as a thoroughly enjoyable read.

"Up front and immediately - this is a great find!..." Read more

"An interesting and amusing book, and a good beach read...." Read more

"...There were some enjoyable passages, but it covered more history than I wanted about areas." Read more

"...are both vivid and perceptive... THE 8:55 TO BAGHDAD is a thoroughly enjoyable read that combines an Agatha-centric travelogue with a thought-..." Read more

7 customers mention "Description"5 positive2 negative

Customers appreciate the book's descriptive style, with one review highlighting its vivid portrayal of train journeys.

"A good travel book, artfully written, thoroughly descriptive, and unflinching in its descriptions of present-day conditions of “exotic” destinations...." Read more

"...descriptions of the people he meets and the places he visited are both vivid and perceptive... THE 8:55 TO BAGHDAD is a thoroughly enjoyable read..." Read more

"...I would have given it 5 starts except for the annoying typos." Read more

"Excellent descriptions of trains, scenery, cities, villages, and desert...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • John the Reader
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great ride...
    Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Up front and immediately - this is a great find! From the enticing title (although I have never read her popular novels) to the book jacket blub that the author evidences a "sly wit" in his account of a journey through tense times, to a targeted Iraq, straight into a quote:
    If you cannot find Osama, Bomb Iraq
    If the markets are a drama, Bomb Iraq
    If the terrorists are frisky
    Pakistan is looking shifty
    North Korea is too risky, Bomb Iraq.

    Or from a fellow train traveler in rural Turkey about President Bush:"You have traveled. I have traveled. We understand each other. But President Bush? Has he traveled? What is that expression--travel broadens the mind?" Eames' humour and the selections he chooses to write of, are far from sly!

    Eames a British journalist recounts his travels by train, ferry and bus from London to Baghdad and onto Ur as replicates the journey that Agatha Christie took back in 1928, but with far more difficulty as this is in the age of Desert Storm and the Axis of Evil. Never mind, he only gets bombed once, and that by his "own side", at the conclusion of his quest in the area of the (claimed) original site of the "Garden of Eden". He travels partly on the famed Orient Express with a cast of characters he suspects of being invented for his book's purpose by Agatha Christy herself. He notes that the "Swiss train track-men who walk the length of the `consist', tapping wheels, keep their eyes firmly on their task. To raise the gaze to window level," he says,"would have risked invading the privacy of a camp hairdresser touching up his highlights or a bouffant old goat touching up his African princess."

    He becomes far more serious about the openness and genuine hospitality of the Iraq people at the conclusion of his adventure, noting the warmth and friendliness, mixed with caution and fear of Sadam's constant presence. This however is no "soft adventure" as the author calls those travel narratives of crossing the Atlantic in a barrel or seeking a punch-up in a bar, it contains some hard-core history, acute observations of people and politics and is a great - too rapidly finished- read.

    The author hopes, as do many of the peoples of biblical Babylon he meets that the seemingly, now unstoppable war will cleanse away the isolation and mistrust of the region, the original "cradle of civilization" as the floods of the rainy season in Mesopotamia "purge the streets of the accumulated rubbish in a free-flowing enema."
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Clark B Nelson
    4.0 out of 5 stars Don't Believe Everything
    Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    An interesting and amusing book, and a good beach read. However there were several presented "facts" so wildly at variance with easily verified reality that it made me wonder what other figments of the author's imagination I had missed. Reader beware.
    One person found this helpful
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  • FB
    3.0 out of 5 stars History book
    Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    This is a well-written book which is saying a lot these days. There were some enjoyable passages, but it covered more history than I wanted about areas.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Needs an editor who can spell
    Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    A good travel book, artfully written, thoroughly descriptive, and unflinching in its descriptions of present-day conditions of “exotic” destinations. I’m quite sure the original text did not have the numerous misspellings in this electronic edition which interrupted a good story.
    Helpful
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  • Alabama Anglophile
    5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended
    Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    To quote from GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE, "Eames laces the book with Christie trivia and a certain sly wit. His descriptions of the people he meets and the places he visited are both vivid and perceptive... THE 8:55 TO BAGHDAD is a thoroughly enjoyable read that combines an Agatha-centric travelogue with a thought-provoking journey through a benighted land."

    Treading lightly throughout this work is Eames' own spiritual quest. Some have noted the book's weak ending and it is rather like the last gasp of an arriving steam locomotive. Since the inspiration for the book occured during an earlier trip that included Aleppo, perhaps Eames, an atheist, could have ended the book with the advice--really a parting blessing--that he received in Konya from Alp Aslan, a Muslim. "Go," he said, "write a travel book in search of the miracle of creation. Go looking for God." (P. 211) However, such an ending would have required that Eames double-back at the conclusion of his present journey--an arduous and awkward maneuver he was not prepared to make at present--either in writing or in life.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • doodle
    4.0 out of 5 stars Really good but too many typos
    Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I don't know why some Kindle books have typos - sloppy quality control, I guess. Otherwise this book was really interesting. I like books that recreate prior travels, like Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz and Bernard Ollivier's books about walking the silk road. This book follows the path of Agatha Christie on the Orient Express from London to Iraq. I really enjoyed the parts that took place on the Balkan peninsula and Turkey, probably because I've been to most of those countries.

    I would have given it 5 starts except for the annoying typos.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • James Blond
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting and Informative
    Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Excellent descriptions of trains, scenery, cities, villages, and desert. Scholarly descriptions of archaeological sites and digs, plus fascinating stories of buried treasure being unearthed after several thousand years.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Arlind Hackett
    3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and sometimes frustrating.
    Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Eames is a talented and descriptive writer, but at times it was frustrating. Eames cynical attitude and the plethora of spelling mistakes in the text were irritating. However, overall it was a fairly interesting read.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • bud
    5.0 out of 5 stars very interesting
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 6, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Thoroughly enjoyed this book , well written and humorous.
    Fascinating insight in to other cultures.
    Just bought a second copy for a friend!
    Report
  • Ian R. West
    4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 19, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    A great book that follows Agatha's footsteps to Baghdad. Eames manages to combine a biography of Christie, history of the regions he visits and his own personal experience. Eames travels between 2002 and 2003 before the war in Iraq begins.
    Interesting read but sometimes requires perserverance as he dwells on the history and experience of some places for too long.
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  • CatsAndBooks
    5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and entertaining
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 4, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Informative and entertaining, this book takes the readers along the route Agatha Christie took many years ago, and lets us experience the journey as it is today (well, not exactly today, but at the time the author wrote this) as well as how it would have been for the great author. It's a successful blend of travelogue and biography.
    Report
  • H M Campbell
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 12, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Brilliant read
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  • Marysk2010
    4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 23, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Really good read - if a bit long, but very informative not just about Agatha Christie, but also places and quite timely when I read this as there was a lot of conflict in Aleppo.
    Report

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