My Science School

Agatha Christie is famed as the best-selling author of all time, However, she was not the most prolific writer of her family. Agatha grew up with two older siblings, out of them, her older sister Margaret (nicknamed Madge) also pursued writing and was considered to be the more promising writer.

By 1916, Madge had already written and published a few short stories, while Agatha had not published any. So when the latter shared the idea of writing a mystery novel with Madge, her sister was not as enthusiastic. She bet that Agatha would not be able to craft a compelling mystery and it certainly would not be something she could not solve. Taking up the challenge, the 26-year-old Agatha got to work and wrote, what would become her debut mystery novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Today, this novel stands alongside hundreds of mysteries Agatha crafted during her illustrious writing career.

Crafting a perfect mystery

Agatha Christie's stories are like a puzzle box full of clues, misdirection and drama. But what are the essential elements of crafting a perfect mystery?

Setting

One of the most important decisions while designing any story is choosing the setting. Whether it was a remote island or yacht or a snow-stalled train stall, the author would always favour eerie and isolated locations, a trend that most of her stories follow. By doing so she limited the movement of her characters and build tension by forcing these plausible suspects to stay put, with the killer lurking among them.

In some cases, she would heighten the drama by making the characters strangers, unsure of who they could trust.

Characters

As a keen observer of human behaviour, she would often use peculiar traits or habits of the people around her to create authentic characters. However, one of the most popular criticisms of her novels is her use of two-dimensional characters that would easily reflect the stereotypes of her time. Future writers are advised not to emulate this trait of hers.

Language

It is a mystery writer's job to concoct stories that are complex and full of riddles and clues. Making it merely a balancing act between being clever and not confusing. The English author used simple, precise and accessible language to accomplish this task. The clarity of her language makes her stories palatable and engaging and can be credited with making her the 'Queen of mystery'.

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French author Dominique Lapierre used a mix of reportage and historical narrative to spin stories of everlasting appeal. As the "City of Joy" and the world mourns the loss of the writer, here's a recap of his life and times.

What separates a journalist from an activist? Where is that thin line that you cross over to become part of the story, rather than write the story? More often than not, journalists struggle with the sense of purpose when they report from a battlefield or during catastrophes being faced with the dilemma whether to help the victims or focus on reportage. French author Dominique Lapierre was in the midst of major political upheavals and poignant moments in history, whilst also reporting from war zones. When the journalist turned into an author, and turned these narratives into best-selling books, he ensured that a part of the royalties would be used for humanitarian work.

The literary world mourned as Lapierre breathed his last on December 4. Kolkata also wept, shedding tears with the world. The author who became a household name after he wrote the 1985 novel ‘The City of Joy’ was 91 when he passed away due to age-related issues. The news was confirmed by his wife Dominique Conchon-Lapierre.

Early years

Born on July 30, 1931, in Chatelaillon, France, Lapierre was born to a diplomat father and a journalist mother. He started off the journey as a writer by writing travelogues. He later started reporting for the weekly news magazine "Paris Match" in the 1950s.

Literary partnership

It was whilst he was serving in the French army that he met American Larry Collins. Lapierre was 23 then. Collins later became a journalist. The two subsequently formed a deep literary partnership that propelled them to churn out hugely successful novels.

Six bestselling books!

The collaborative literary works of Lapierre and Larry Collins saw immense success. In all, 50 million copies of the six books Lapierre wrote along with Collins have been sold. These six bestsellers are O Jerusalem! (1972); Freedom at Midnight (1975); Is Paris Burning? (1965), The Fifth Horseman (1980); Is New York Burning? (2005); and Or I'll Dress You In Mourning (1968).

Lapierre's ode to India

 Lapierre always had a special connection with India. He showed his love for India even through his memoir, India mon amour (2010). But it was his novel The City of Joy that made him popular with the Indian crowd. The story revolves around the experiences of a rickshaw puller. In a PTI interview, Lapierre had said that the novel was like his "song of love for India, the place where I have been coming very regularly since the last 50 years. It has been an emotional journey for me where I have got a lot of love and support from the people".

Five Past Midnight in Bhopal: The Epic Story of the World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster (1997) is yet another book written by him. This was an investigative account of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy based on three years of research and interaction with survivors. This he wrote in collaboration with Javier Moro. In 2008, he was awarded India's third-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan.

A humanitarian

Lapierre was all about writing with a purpose. As a writer and journalist, he leaves behind a legacy. What we know is that Lapierre didn't stop with documenting the injustices but also tried his bit to address them.

His humanism is evident in how he founded the "City of Joy Aid", a non-profit humanitarian organisation based in Kolkata in 1981. He donated a large share of his royalties to support humanitarian projects. He supported many charitable projects in India such as refuge centres for children affected with polio, NGOs, schools, rehabilitation workshops, education programmes, and so on. Likewise, the royalties from the sale of the book on the Bhopal gas tragedy were used to give free medical treatment to the victims of the disaster.

Books to movies

Is Paris Burning? and The City of Joy were later made into movies by René Clément in 1966 and Roland Joffé in 1992 respectively.

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English author Jane Austen's novels employ wit and humour to decipher the sheltered lives of the upper classes in rural England. Her novel Emma explores the baffling collision of emotions and etiquette. Let us revisit this story and see what makes it a classic.

About the author

Jane Austen was born December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire, England. She was the second daughter and seventh child of Reverend George Austen and Cassandra Leigh Austen. Her father was a rector and a scholar who encouraged and inculcated a love for learning in his children. The authors mother was a woman of quick wit, popular for her impromptu stories in her circles. Austen shared a special bond with her elder sister Cassandra, who was her lifelong companion as neither of them married. She was mostly homeschooled by her father and brothers due to the poor financial condition of the family. However, as an avid reader, she grew up perusing classics by William Shakespeare, John Milton, Alexander Pope, David Hume, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Jane Austen began writing at a very young age. She finished early drafts of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice in the late 1790s. Her novels shed light on distinct expectations of a woman's proper role in society and studied the frustrations of her gender, in a society that saw no use for their talents.

Long considered the English authors most perfectly executed novel, Emma is the only one of her books that is named after its heroine. Published in 1815, this titular protagonist is the first and the only one of Jane Austen's heroines who has something close to power. Emma Woodhouse is generous, smart, rich and in the prime of her youth. She had lost her mother at a very tender her sister is married off, and her father is completely dependent on her. So, she age, runs the household and has the liberty to act according to her will. The novel, many critics argue, is Austen's homage to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and chronicles Emma's near-disastrous meddling in the lives of others. Austen famously said this about her heroine Emma Woodhouse "a heroine whom no one but myself will much like".

The mould of a heroine

What is a heroine? All six of Jane Austen's novels teasingly ask this question. The formulation of a typical heroine of the 19th Century as described by Austen was "Heroine, a faultless character herself - perfectly good, with much tenderness and sentiment, and not the least Wit". Heroines that dominated the English novel before and in Austen's time had to be morally impeccable. Breaking away from the trope of the pious heroine, Austen, through her rebellious, mischievous, and flawed female protagonists, broke the unrealistic societal expectations that forced women to lead their lives as pictures of perfection.

The Artistry

One thing about Jane Austen's writing style that sets her apart from her contemporaries is her way of narrating the story through the consciousness of the characters. Modern novelists call it free-indirect speech. Although Austen didn't invent this technique, according to Austen scholar Juliette Wells, "she's certainly the one who took it the farthest and established its primacy, its necessariness."

According to English critic John Mullon, the most sophisticated use of this technique can be observed in Emma, where most of the novel is seen through the eyes of a heroine who is mostly wrong about everything. So while reading it one is sharing her delusions and misjudgement.

This technique makes us as readers fall in love with Austen's characters for their humanity and the capacity to make mistakes and learn from them.

Janet Todd, Professor Emerita from the University of Cambridge, said, "Emma is the culmination of her career and it is the cleverest, the most subtle and the one in which she thinks about her artistry as well as putting artistry into the book.... think it is her masterpiece."

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