The book's dedication reads: "To my Mother".
Christie's mother, Clarissa ("Clara") Boehmer Miller (1854–1926), was a strong influence on her life and someone to whom Christie was extremely close, especially after the death of her father in 1901. It was while Christie was ill (circa 1908) that her mother suggested she write a story. The result was The House of Beauty, now a lost work, which hesitantly started her writing career.[12]: 48–49 Christie later revised this story as The House of Dreams, and it was published in issue 74 of The Sovereign Magazine in January 1926 and, many years later, in 1997, in book form in While the Light Lasts and Other Stories.
Christie also dedicated her debut novel as Mary Westmacott, Giant's Bread (1930), to her mother who, by that time, had died.
