The Paris Express

Author(s): Emma Donoghue

Fiction

Emma Donoghue, the "soul-stirring" (Oprah Daily) nationally bestselling author of Room, returns with a sweeping historical novel about an infamous 1895 disaster at the Paris Montparnasse train station.  


Based on an 1895 disaster that went down in history when it was captured in a series of surreal, extraordinary photographs, The Paris Express is a propulsive novel set on a train packed with a fascinating cast of characters who hail from as close as Brittany and as far as Russia, Ireland, Algeria, Pennsylvania, and Cambodia.


Members of parliament hurry back to Paris to vote; a medical student suspects a girl may be dying; a secretary tries to convince her boss of the potential of moving pictures; two of the train's crew build a life away from their wives; a young anarchist makes a terrifying plan, and much more.  


From an author whose "writing is superb alchemy" (Audrey Niffenegger, New York Times bestselling author), The Paris Express is an evocative masterpiece that effortlessly captures the politics, glamour, chaos, and speed that marked the end of the 19th century.

General Information

  • : 9781035057276
  • : Pan Macmillan
  • : Picador
  • : 0.3
  • : 19 March 2025
  • : 01 April 2025
  • : books

Other Specifications

  • : Emma Donoghue
  • : Paperback
  • : English
  • : 288
  • : FA

More About The Product

A zippy Agatha Christie-like thriller giving a taste of life in fin-de-siecle France * The Guardian *
pacy read of secrets and lies * The i Paper *
The Paris Express is all about speed, and its heady corollary, escape. Good writing is also about momentum, and another corollary, the suspension of disbelief. This novel is a masterclass in both: an engrossing narrative, married to its intrinsic specificity, the joy of details * The Independent *
riveting mix of social commentary and mystery . . . has much in common with Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express . . . If the steam engine is an astonishing feat of engineering, so is Donoghue's propulsive and thought-provoking 16th novel * The Washington Post *
Donoghue deftly combines thriller and mystery elements with her trademark historical fiction . . . To say more about it would be to spoil the luxurious enjoyment of sinking into the multifaceted narrative that [she] creates * The Sunday Times (Ireland) *
A nail-biter - and you'll learn some history, too * People *
Donoghue's historical fiction holds a special place in my heart . . . [she] is not a timid custodian of the past but an excavator, digging beneath bromides to unearth the defiant truth -- Naoise Dolan, The Irish Times
Clever, ambitious, and richly researched. A slice of 1890s Paris that makes us see that our modern problems aren't so modern after all! The Paris Express is a smartly structured novel that ratchets up the pace until it's hurtling along as fast as the doomed train itself -- Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam
Captivating! Emma Donoghue writes in rich, luxuriant detail, yet the story moves at a exhilarating clip. An edge-of-your-seat historical thriller that I couldn't put down -- Shelby Van Pelt, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures
Wonderful. In exploring a little-remembered event in history, she manages to hold a mirror up to a whole society. An absorbing, panoramic, meticulously researched, lovingly peopled gem -- Esi Edugyan, author of Washington Black
Donoghue's talents are at such glorious heights in this novel -- Heather O'Neill, author of The Capital of Dreams

 

 

Author Biography: Born in Dublin in 1969, and now living in Canada, Emma Donoghue writes fiction (novels and short stories, contemporary and historical, most recently Learned by Heart), as well as drama for screen and stage. Her novel Room was shortlisted for the Booker, Commonwealth and Orange Prizes, selling nearly three million copies in forty languages. Donoghue was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film adaptation of Room starring Brie Larson. She also co-wrote the screenplay for the film of her novel The Wonder, starring Florence Pugh, and is now adapting The Pull of the Stars for the screen.