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Taken at the Flood

Taken at the Flood

ClassicsCrime
Pages
226
Published
1948
Language
English

Synopsis

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the prosperous Cloade family is thrown into disarray when their wealthy patriarch, Gordon Cloade, is killed in a London air raid only weeks after a sudden marriage. His entire fortune passes to his young widow, Rosaleen, leaving his relatives, who had long relied on his generosity, resentful and financially stranded. The family's unease deepens when a stranger arrives in the quiet village of Warmsley Vale and signs the hotel register as Enoch Arden. He hints that Rosaleen's first husband, presumed dead, may still be alive, a claim that would shatter her marriage to Gordon and free the inheritance. When the stranger is found dead, suspicion spreads through a household already simmering with debt, jealousy, and concealed motives. Hercule Poirot, drawn into the affair through a chance encounter at his club, works alongside Superintendent Spence to untangle questions of identity, blackmail, and who stood to gain. Around the central puzzle, the novel traces the strained engagement of Lynn Marchmont, recently home from war service and restless in ordinary life, and her steadfast cousin Rowley. Christie sets a postwar England of rationing, returning soldiers, and shifting fortunes against a tightly plotted study of how money distorts loyalty, and how the dead are not always who they seem.

Prose complexity
4/10

Vibe

TenseIntellectualAtmosphericComplex
Secret IdentityFamily SagaBetrayalMorally GreyMarriage of ConvenienceMystery Box

Genres

Classics Crime Historical Fiction Mystery

About the author

A
Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the best-selling novelist of all time and the writer the world calls the "Queen of Crime." Born Agatha Miller in Torquay, Devon, she came to fiction on a dare: her sister Madge bet she could not write a convincing detective story, and the result, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduced the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Her dispensing work in a hospital pharmacy during the First World War, repeated again during the Second, gave her the expert knowledge...

Characters

Hercule PoirotSupporting

Methodical and observant, he is drawn in less by an official case than by an intriguing fragment of conversation

Rosaleen CloadeSupporting

Fragile, anxious, and isolated, she is resented by the family and closely guarded by her brother

David HunterSupporting

Ambitious and manipulative, his protectiveness shades into something far more calculating

Lynn MarchmontSupporting

Restless and perceptive, she is torn between the safety of her engagement and a pull toward danger and excitement

Rowley CloadeSupporting

Practical and honourable on the surface, he is strained by jealousy and family financial pressure

All characters in Taken at the Flood

Frequently asked questions

  • Does Taken at the Flood feature Hercule Poirot?

    Yes, Hercule Poirot is the detective investigating the case in Taken at the Flood. He is central to unraveling the mystery surrounding the Cloade family fortune.

  • Is Taken at the Flood part of a series?

    Taken at the Flood is a standalone novel within the Hercule Poirot series. While it features the recurring detective, the mystery and characters are self-contained.

  • Where does the title come from?

    It is drawn from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, from Brutus's speech: "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood leads on to fortune." The novel's US title, "There Is a Tide...", quotes the same passage.

  • Has Taken at the Flood been adapted for screen?

    Taken at the Flood was adapted as an episode in the British television series Agatha Christie's Poirot, starring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot.

  • Why does the stranger call himself Enoch Arden?

    The alias alludes to Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 1864 narrative poem "Enoch Arden", about a shipwrecked man long presumed dead who returns home to find his wife remarried. The borrowed name pointedly mirrors the stranger's claim that Rosaleen's first husband may still be alive.

  • When was the book first published?

    It first appeared in the United States in March 1948, published by Dodd, Mead as "There Is a Tide...", and in the United Kingdom in November 1948 by the Collins Crime Club as "Taken at the Flood".

  • Where does the story fall in the Hercule Poirot series?

    It is one of the Hercule Poirot novels, with Poirot investigating alongside Superintendent Spence, a recurring police figure who also appears in other Christie titles such as Mrs McGinty's Dead.

  • What is the postwar setting?

    The novel is set in England in 1946, and its atmosphere reflects the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, including the Blitz, rationing, returning service members, and families adjusting to changed fortunes.

  • Has it been adapted for television?

    Yes. It was adapted as an episode of ITV's "Agatha Christie's Poirot" starring David Suchet, first broadcast in 2006. The adaptation shifts the action from the postwar 1940s to the 1930s and alters several plot elements from the book.

  • Is this the same book as "There Is a Tide..."?

    Yes. "There Is a Tide..." is simply the original American title for the same novel published in Britain as "Taken at the Flood".

  • Do I need to read other Poirot novels first?

    No. Like most Christie mysteries, it stands on its own and can be read without prior knowledge of the series.

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