HarperCollins Publishers Limited

1** Westerhill Road

Bishopbriggs

Glasgow

G6* **T

To whom it may concerned,

I am writing to complain about the recent event of editing made to Agatha Christie books and the publisher is not giving enough warning to the readers.

Early this year, I encountered an online news article with a title: “Agatha Christie books, including Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries, to be rewritten for modern sensitivities” (Reference: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/agatha-christie-novels-poirot-rewritten-b2308494.html)

According to the article, dated on 27th March 2023, “editions were either already released in 2020 or are set to be released.”

Is this disturbing article implying that the publisher HarperCollins hid the fact of previous editing for some years but somewhat decided to come clean all of a sudden and also confessed about forthcoming edited-reworked editions?

Unfortunately, I have recently bought an ebook edition of The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. Its Copyright section says it is “Ebook Edition © October 2010 ISBN: 9780007422456 Version: 2022-05-04” with additional information “Cover design by Holly Macdonald © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2022 Cover illustration © Bill Bragg”. From these, I assumed the only change made from 2010 edition to 2022 version is a newly designed cover illustration. Since there is no statement referring to “editing,” the contents must be the same as it was first released in 2010.

So I happily started to read the book and immediately encountered a phrase that seemed curiously “modern” in sense of political correctness. It was a monologue of Miss Marple pondering upon her old age and in there she uses a phrase “mentally afflicted child” to describe herself being patronized by her companion. That is her way of expressing her frustration for being treated like an intellectually disabled child.

I am fully aware that nowadays we should be sensitive for not to offend or discriminate people suffering from mental or physical difficulty but it is also clear in Agatha Christy’s time, it wasn’t like that. Therefore, to my horror I must assume this book had also been the one you secretly edited and quietly released in 2020.

But where is the warning?

Please forgive me if I misjudged the text and you have not made any editing on it. The problem is I do not have proper information as to which books editings were made in 2020. And I have my reason to believe you have been dishonest with your readers, so I'm afraid I cannot help doubting you.

I also purchased Murder on the Orient Express in ebook edition a few years back (Amazon.co.jp tells me it was 24th Sep 2021) and already finished reading. My instinct ordered me to check this one. To my distress, it now has a cover design which I failed to recognize at first, and Copyright section of it indicated it has been updated to Version 2023-07-13.

According to the article, this version of Poirot underwent the editing such as to remove the term "Oriental" along with other racial descriptors. Appalling. You’ve taken away what had been supposed to be an unedited version when I bought it in 2021 by overwriting it quietly and you did not care to give me previous warning or ask me whether I would happily accept such change or not.

This discovery made me horribly upset. There is no way I can accept such misconduct and arrogance.

Please do not argue it is still the same Christie even after all those editing and rewriting by so called “sensitivity readers.” To my standard it is FAKE. If “fake” is too strong a word, let’s call it modern translation to meet modern sensitivity requirements. Still, it is not authentic Agatha and you should put a name of a translator/editor on the cover.

I do not want such modern translations. Therefore, I demand a full refund.

Mind you, what I’m asking here is not my money back. I do not think I can survive without repeatedly reading Agatha Christie from now and then so I claim to have unedited, original Agatha Christie books as full compensation. You owe me at least two books: The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side and Murder on the Orient Express.

Similar incident happened earlier to Roald Dahl books for children. But the publisher Penguin immediately made their decision to publish 'classic,' unedited version of books after they had been exposed to the opinions of angry readers and writers.

I think Penguin at least had courage to admit that they once made a huge mistake and compensate the readers by also publishing The Roald Dahl Classic Collection. So I wouldn’t mind buying Classic Roald Dahl to enjoy his rather mischievous stories for children, which I first read in Japanese translation at the age of 10 or so and later in English in my 20s.

In this Dahl incident, Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, provided a reasonable solution for how to embrace modern sensitivity issue on Twitter (at that time, it was still Twitter) on 19 Feb 2023:

"Better than playing around with these texts is to offer introductory context that prepares people for what they are about to read, and helps them understand the setting in which it was written. 8/13"

"If an editor, publisher or estate believes they must go beyond that, readers should be put on notice about what changes have been made and those wishing to read the work in its original form should have that opportunity. 9/13"

-------Quotation ends here-------

Please, do not pretend you thought you put enough notice for readers by adding few lines in Copyright, like one in Orient Express: “HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.”

Why don't you put it more clearly that you edited the dead author's original texts and it is no longer authentic?

I hate to think I have two more ebooks from HarperCollins: Helcule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories and Miss Marple and Mystery: The Complete Short Stories. Have you also edited these two or not?

If you are to release or publish Classic Agatha Christie Collection, which means WITHOUT editing, I will crawl back to you as a loyal customer again and there will be no need for me to hunt very old, at least 30-40 years old second-hand books (to make sure to avoid dishonest publisher's secret editing, of course).

Until then, just compensate me for the two books (or four?) in my possession by providing me the unedited authentic versions of those.

Yours faithfully,

Shunday O.