Endless Night
| Endless Night | |
 Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition |
|
| Author | Agatha Christie |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Kenneth Farnhill |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
| Publication date | October 30, 1967 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 224 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | Third Girl |
| Followed by | By the Pricking of My Thumbs |
Endless Night is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on October 30, 1967[1] and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year[2][3]. The UK edition retailed at eighteen shillings (18/-)[4] and the US edition at $4.95[3]. It was one of her favorites of her own works and received some of the warmest critical notices of her career upon publication.
Contents |
Explanation of the novel's title
The title comes from William Blake's Auguries of Innocence:
- Every night and every morn,
- Some to misery are born,
- Every morn and every night,
- Some are born to sweet delight.
- Some are born to sweet delight,
- Some are born to endless night.
Plot summary
Ambitious young Michael Rogers - the narrator of the story - falls in love with Fenella Guteman (Ellie) the first time he sets eyes on her in the mysterious yet scenic 'Gipsy's Acre', complete with its sea-view and dark fir trees. Before long, he has both the land and the woman, but rumors are spreading of a curse hanging over the land. Not heeding the locals' warnings, the couple take up residence at 'Gipsy's Acre', leading to a devastating tragedy.
Literary significance and reception
The Times Literary Supplement of November 16, 1967 said, "It really is bold of Agatha Christie to write in the persona of a working-class boy who marries a poor little rich girl, but in a pleasantly gothickal story of gypsy warnings she brings it all off, together with a nicely melodramatic final twist."[5]
The Guardian carried a laudatory review in its issue of November 10, 1967 by Francis Iles (Anthony Berkeley Cox) who said, "The old maestrina of the crime-novel (or whatever is the female of 'maestro') pulls yet another out of her inexhaustible bag with Endless Night, quite different in tone from her usual work. It is impossible to say much about the story without giving away vital secrets: sufficient to warn the reader that if he should think this is a romance he couldn't be more mistaken, and the crashing, not to say horrific suspense at the end is perhaps the most devastating that this surpriseful author has ever brought off."[6]
Maurice Richardson in The Observer of November 5, 1967 began, "She changes her style again and makes a determined and quite suspenseful attempt to be with it." He finished, "I shan't give away who murders whom, but the suspense is kept up all the way and Miss Christie's new demi-tough, streamlined style really does come off. She'll be wearing black leather pants next, if she isn't already."[7] The poet and novelist Stevie Smith chose the novel as one of her Books of the Year in the same newspaper's issue of December 10, 1967 when she said, "I mostly read Agatha Christie this year (and every year). I wish I could write more about what she does for one in the way of lifting the weight, and so on." [8]
Robert Barnard: "The best of the late Christies, the plot a combination of patterns used in Ackroyd and Nile (note similarities in treatment of heiress/heroine's American lawyers in Nile and here, suggesting she had been rereading). The murder occurs very late, and thus the central section seems desultory, even noveletish (poor little rich girl, gypsy's curse, etc.). But all is justified by the conclusion. A splendid late flowering."[9]
References to other works
While the novel uses elements of the supernatural that feature rarely in Christie (By The Pricking of My Thumbs being a noticeable example), the novel's denouement is similar to that of her infamous novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in that Michael is revealed to be a twisted, mentally unstable man who is also the murderer. The plot also uses elements of a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker from Miss Marple's Final Cases (1979).
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Endless Night (1972 Film)
Main article: Endless Night (1972 film)
A 1972 film was made, starring Hayley Mills, Britt Ekland, Per Oscarsson, Hywel Bennett and George Sanders. Christie reportedly had some reservations about the use of sex scenes to enliven the plot.
Saturday Theatre (BBC Radio 4)
Endless Night was presented as a one-hour radio play in the Saturday Theatre strand on BBC Radio 4 on August 30, 2008 at 2.30pm. The play's recording took place at Broadcasting House and had an original score composed by Nicolai Abrahamsen.
Adaptor: Joy Wilkinson
Producer/Director: Sam Hoyle
Cast:
Jonathan Forbes as Mike
Lizzy Watts as Ellie
Sara Stewart as Greta
Joan Walker as Cora/Mike's Mother
Victoria Lennox as Mrs Lee
Chris Pavlo as Mr Constantine/Auctioneer/Policeman/Assistant
John Rowe as Philpott/Lippincott
Joseph Tremain as Young Mike/Army Boy
Dan Starkey as Santonix/Frank
Thomas Brown-Lowe as Oscar
Graphic novel adaptation
Endless Night was released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on November 3, 2008, adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Frank Leclercq (ISBN 0-00-727533-1).
Publication history
- 1967, Collins Crime Club (London), October 30, 1967, Hardcover, 224 pp
- 1968, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1968, Hardcover, 248 pp
- 1969, Pocket Books (New York), Paperback, 181 pp
- 1970, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 192 pp
- 1972, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 342 pp ISBN 0-85-456115-3
In the US, the novel was first serialised in two parts in The Saturday Evening Post from February 24 (Volume 241, Number 4) to March 9, 1968 (Volume 241, Number 5) with illustrations by Tom Adams.
References
- ^ The Observer October 29, 1927 (Page 26)
- ^ John Cooper and B.A. Pyke. Detective Fiction - the collector's guide: Second Edition (Pages 82 and 87) Scholar Press. 1994. ISBN 0-85967-991-8
- ^ a b American Tribute to Agatha Christie
- ^ Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. Collins Crime Club – A checklist of First Editions. Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 15)
- ^ The Times Literary Supplement November 16, 1967 (Page 1092)
- ^ The Guardian. November 10, 1967 (Page 7).
- ^ The Observer November 5, 1967 (Page 27)
- ^ The Observer December 10, 1967 (Page 9)
- ^ Barnard, Robert. A Talent to Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie - Revised edition (Page 193). Fontana Books, 1990. ISBN 0006374743
External links
- Endless Night at the official Agatha Christie website
- Endless Night (1972) at the Internet Movie Database
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