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Let's Go Surfing

Christie Archive

In 1922, Agatha Christie and her husband Archie took a round-the-world cruise to promote an exhibition of British achievement—including a sculpture of the Prince of Wales in butter. This journey highlights Christie’s adventurous nature. Perhaps the most surprising results to her readers is how enthralled she became with surfing.

Modern readers, familiar with the photos from late in her life, see her as a cozy grandmother, legendary for drinking cream and glorying in pastry. But in her early thirties she was still trim and athletic. And she never lost her love for swimming.

Water plays a large role in many of her novels and short stories—boats, cruises, even drownings. Two of her books are set on islands modeled on Burgh Island off the coast of Devon: Evil Under the Sun and And Then There Were None. A Caribbean Mystery takes Miss Marple well out of her normal setting. Poirot, a more adventurous traveler, solves the mystery Death on the Nile.

But one of her books, the adventure story The Man in the Brown Suit, published in 1924, just two years after her world tour, does include surfing. In the novel, Anne Beddingfield, the feisty heroine says,

Surfing looks perfectly easy. It isn’t. I say no more. I got very angry and fairly hurled my plank from me. Nevertheless, I determined to return on the first possible opportunity and have another go. I would not be beaten. Quite by mistake I then got a good run on my board, and came out delirious with happiness. Surfing is like that. You are either vigorously cursing or else you are idiotically pleased with yourself.

This is Christie, projecting her own feelings on to Anne. And why not?

The book She Surf states

“The Hawaiian word for surf, nalu, also translates as ‘to investigate, to search after truth and the origin of things.’ This feels particularly poignant, bearing in mind what we know of Christie’s writing prowess, and her interest in the ‘how and why’ within her books.” (On Surfing: Agatha Christie's Love of the Sea)

So enjoy the ride with Agatha Christie, on a hot July day, rolling into Waikiki beach on her surfboard.