Star Over Bethlehem and other stories
Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition
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| Author | Agatha Christie |
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| Illustrator | Elsie Wrigley |
| Cover artist | Elsie Wrigley |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Poetry and short story collection |
| Publisher | Collins |
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Publication date
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1 November 1965 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 80 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| Preceded by | A Caribbean Mystery |
| Followed by | At Bertram's Hotel |
Star Over Bethlehem is an illustrated book of poetry and short stories on a religious theme by crime writer Agatha Christie. It was published under the name "Agatha Christie Mallowan" (whose only other book to be published under this by-line was the 1946 short autobiography Come, Tell Me How You Live). It was published in the UK by Collins on 1 November 1965 in an edition priced at thirteen shillings and sixpence (13/6) and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in an edition retailing at $4.95.
The volume contains five poems and six short stories, all on the theme of Christianity. Some of the poems can be taken as comments or epilogues on the short stories (e.g. Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh refers to the gifts in the stable which The Naughty Donkey in the preceding story attempts to eat). Although relatively unknown, this work, when referred to at all, is often stated as being for children; however the stories it contains are firmly aimed at an adult audience and with adult themes, especially for 1965. For instance, in the story The Water Bus, Mrs Hargreaves's cleaner tries to offload her woes to her employer, the main one of which is that her daughter is dying in hospital after an illegal abortion went wrong.
Little is known of the reasons for the writing of the contents of this book, however Christie is known to have retained strong religious beliefs throughout her life. She is also said to have been pleased with Collins' plans for the publication and its illustrations by Elsie Wrigley and pleased at the reception of the book and, for once, requests for it to be autographed.
Mary is alone in the stable in Bethlehem with the baby Jesus when she receives a visitation from an angel. He tells the virgin that she has been permitted a glimpse of the future and shows Jesus alone and afraid in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prays before his arrest, then a vision of Jesus carrying His cross on the way to His crucifixion, and then finally on the cross as He is declared by the High Priest as a blasphemer. The angel offers Mary the choice of giving the baby back to God to avoid these agonies of the future and tells her that she should regard the choice as hers alone with no compunction from God himself. Mary suddenly remembers the smile on her son's face as He looked on His sleeping disciples in Gethsemane and a similar look on the face of one of the criminals also on a cross at Golgotha. She refuses the offer that the angel makes to her. He vanishes as Joseph comes into the stable. The angel is then revealed to be Satan in disguised form who vows to come back one day and tempt Jesus himself. As he flashes through the sky towards hell, his passage is mistaken for a star by the Three Wise Men.
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