The House of Dreams: A Short Story

by Agatha Christie

Previously published in the anthologies While The Light Lasts and Other Stories and The Harlequin Tea Set

Agatha Christie’s first ever short story, originally titled ‘House of Beauty’, explores insanity, death and immortality in a brief tale about the effects of a macabre recurring dream on a man’s life…

Genres: Agatha Christie, Mystery, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller

33 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.

Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one is admittedly weird.
First published in The Sovereign Magazine in 1926, it's a mash-up of a psychological thriller with a bit of the paranormal, and it really doesn't work all that well.
A man has dreams of a white house and he also feels this love connection to a woman in the story with a family history of mental illness.



In the end, she loses her mind and they meet in this white house in his dreams.
I'm glad the conclusion had a bit of the sweet stuff but it wasn't the easiest storyline to wrap your head around.

Read as part of the short story collection The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories

[Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like reading an episode of The Twilight Zone...simply perfect.

[kezzie ʚ♡ɞ · Rating 3 out of 5]

✩ 3 stars
~
this felt like a fever dream.
~
but a fever dream written by agatha christie i will read any day

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn’t think much of this story. It revolves around a man, John, who dreams of a White House, meets and falls in love with Allegra. Whilst telling Allegra of his dream, he sees something in the corner of the house and suddenly departs to Africa where he is then treated by a doctor.

Too confusing, didn’t really get it.

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

the Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again

[R. R. · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's awful ! Apparently Christie first sought psychological and supernatural stories. She totally failed at them. Thank God for that or else we wouldn't have been able to enjoy Poirot or Miss Marple

[Aubrey Nekvinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spooky, but not my favorite short story by Christie. I felt like I was missing something the whole time.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4 Stars.

[Joop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simpel.maar leuk verhaal. A.C. laat hier een leuk werkje zien wat hangt richting moraliteit en geesten.

[Susy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Biljana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Brilliant writing.

[Dennis Brock · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 Couldn't really connect that much with it...not my cup of (harlequin) tea...

[A.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Segrave keeps dreaming of a house; a plain white house with lots of windows, but he is never inside it – merely observing it from the outside. He decides the dream is linked to a woman he met at a party, Allegra Kerr. After telling her about this, she tells him her dreams are always nightmares. His dream changes, now there is a ’thing’ that lives inside the house and it frightens him.
Allegra’s friend Masie was interested in John and is disappointed that he is in love with her friend. She tells him about the madness in the Kerr family. Allegra refuses to marry so John heads off to Africa to make his fortune. Years later, he dreams of the house again, but this time the tenant is leaving, in a black carriage drawn by black horses. Maisie writes to tell him of Allegra’s death. He falls ill and in his fever searches for the house. The doctor realises and tries to stop him, talking to him and begging him to hang on, but he finds the house … and walks inside.
888
According to Agatha Christie’s autobiography, it was a revised version of the unpublished ‘The House of Beauty’, written before the First World War and ‘the first thing I ever wrote that showed any kind of promise’.
It’s terribly sad. And again, a Christie dip into the supernatural.
4 stars

[Mert Köse · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man falls in love with a woman and later discovers that she has a psychological disorder. In the book, the psychological illness within the woman is depicted very well.
The story portrays the man's pursuit of a house he sees in his dreams, which eventually leads to an unhealthy love story with a tragic ending that drives him mad.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

spooky.

[Aisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

[2.75/5]

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read 2020

[Piya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agatha Christie never fails to amaze me. Her understanding of the human psyche makes her books a class apart..even short stories like this one which haven't gotten much limelight.

[Heather Culley]

This is not how mental illness works.

[Perrilyn Pringle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the metaphor and realism around insanity and death. Love Agatha, she has wonderful literary taste in words and story.

[Khaoula Muftisada · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointed me... I wouldn't believe it agatha's work

[Kayezone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really my favorite but it was very intriguing. Haunting even.

[spooky Σοφί · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone has any short story by Agatha Christie recommendation? This was so interesting and vivid!

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agatha's short stories are just as entertaining as her full-length mysteries. What a wonderful writer she is. :) I wasn't sure if I would like the short ones, but I did.

[Sayoni Saha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe we all dream of a beautiful magnificent house ... who knows ?

[Ala · Rating 2 out of 5]

Przypomniało mi się że mam zbiór opowiadań Agathy.
Muszę się przyzwyczaić do formy krótkich opowiadać.( Dlatego też myśle że jak przeczytam cały tomik opowiadań to będę w stanie lepiej je ocenić)

[Romy · Rating 3 out of 5]

𝟯.𝟱⭐ 𝗱𝗲 𝟱⭐*

It was ok

[sonataiscool · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bro needs to find a hobby and make his life more fun damn.

[Yusra · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75⭐

[Shreela Sen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's quite a classic horror tragedy.
& it's absolutely not classic Christie.