Zimbabwean writer Bryony Rheam has won the May ‘Write
Your Own Christie’ competition. The prize? Dinner in London with Agatha
Christie’s grandson and with Agatha Christie's British and American publishers.
The competition involves writing a chapter of a novel
in the style of Agatha Christie, following on from the chapters of previous
winners. The competition is run on a monthly basis and has been going for eight
months, it finishes in July. Bryony was also runner-up in the April competition.
The judges commented about her winning May entry: ‘It
was a confident chapter with a terrific ending, as well as a carefully plotted
solution.’
You can read the winning entry here:
http://www.agathachristie.com/write-your-own-christie/read-the-story-so-far/chapter-eight/
Several references to Agatha Christie occur in
Bryony’s award-winning novel This
September Sun – the character of the grandmother, Evelyn, like Bryony, being an
enthusiast.
But the old-fashioned crime, the Agatha
Christie whodunnit, this is a true exposition of the human psyche. She, Gran
believed, understood what drove the ordinary person to murder: the old lady,
the vicar, the housewife; all were capable of the greatest sin on earth. And
that in the end is what is so unsettling: it’s you, it’s me. No one can say, ‘I
wouldn’t do that.’ Behind the murder are jealousy, hatred, envy. Love. How many
crimes are committed in its name?
This September Sun is published in
Zimbabwe by 'amaBooks and by Parthian Books in the United Kingdom, and will be
published in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan by Longhorn Press. It is
available as an ebook in Africa through shop.mazwi.co , and elsewhere through Parthian, www.africanbookscollective.com and many other online outlets.
This September Sun is a set text for ZIMSEC
'A' level Literature in English and, in May 2013, became the best-selling book
on Amazon in the United Kingdom.
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