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The House of Dreams: Mysteries
A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time as an ebook.
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…
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…
29 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1926
About the author
Agatha Christie
6,458 books79.3k followersAgatha 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)
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)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
August 10, 2022
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,
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
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,
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
January 10, 2015
Like reading an episode of The Twilight Zone...simply perfect.
July 21, 2022
✩ 3 stars
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this felt like a fever dream.
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but a fever dream written by agatha christie i will read any day
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this felt like a fever dream.
~
but a fever dream written by agatha christie i will read any day
June 12, 2020
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.
Too confusing, didn’t really get it.
December 24, 2019
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
July 29, 2020
Spooky, but not my favorite short story by Christie. I felt like I was missing something the whole time.
April 21, 2016
the Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories
My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again
My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again
September 10, 2020
2.75 Couldn't really connect that much with it...not my cup of (harlequin) tea...
May 26, 2021
3.5 Stars
rounded up to 4 Stars.
November 19, 2021
Simpel.maar leuk verhaal. A.C. laat hier een leuk werkje zien wat hangt richting moraliteit en geesten.
May 1, 2025
3.75 stars
December 20, 2025
IMO another hard to follow story about character development; when a writer makes the story about character motivations, its (to me at least) a hard to follow story.
January 16, 2025
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.
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.
February 26, 2020
Wow. Brilliant writing.
April 5, 2020
Read 2020
July 10, 2024
Bro needs to find a hobby and make his life more fun damn.
January 15, 2025
Quite different from her usual stories and yet so captivating. Absolutely loved that one.
October 24, 2025
Whoa..this one has twilight zone feel, I thought it was a bit sad too.
August 3, 2019
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.
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
Allegra’s friend Masie was interested in John and is disappointed that he is in love with her friend.
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
October 3, 2018
spooky.
March 27, 2020
[2.75/5]
June 1, 2020
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.
Read
August 31, 2020This is not how mental illness works.
April 15, 2021
I liked the metaphor and realism around insanity and death. Love Agatha, she has wonderful literary taste in words and story.
April 22, 2021
Disappointed me... I wouldn't believe it agatha's work
September 12, 2021
Not really my favorite but it was very intriguing. Haunting even.
January 15, 2022
Anyone has any short story by Agatha Christie recommendation? This was so interesting and vivid!
May 4, 2022
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.
September 19, 2022
Maybe we all dream of a beautiful magnificent house ... who knows ?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews