The Paris Express (New York: Summit Books; Toronto: HarperCollins Canada; London: Picador, 2025).
Inspired by a French railway disaster of 1895 that went down in history thanks to a set of surreal photographs, this sweeping thriller brings together characters real and invented, rich and poor, from all over the world, on a steam train hurtling through the countryside. The Paris Express is one of the Kobo Best Books of the Month and on the Indie Next List.
The Paris Express is Donoghue’s sixteenth novel and twentieth book of fiction.
A personal note: This novel was written with great pleasure over the course of a year in Montparnasse, and I've put into it everything I love about the multicultural dazzle that is Paris, now as well as back in 1895. For a long time I've been wanting to write a story about a disaster - dozens of strangers brought together by the fluke of being at a certain spot at the wrong moment - and this railway catastrophe grabbed hold of me as soon as I saw one of the surreal photographs in which it was immortalised. I've tried to give the novel both the social range and the unstoppable momentum of a runaway train.
To buy The Paris Express:
In the US
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Paris-Express/Emma-Donoghue/9781668082799
In Canada
https://www.harpercollins.ca/9781443474238/the-paris-express/
In Ireland/UK
https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/emma-donoghue/the-paris-express/9781035057269
Wherever you live, PLEASE support your local indie bookstore by buying from them either directly or through an indie-friendly hub such as bookshop.org or hive.co.uk.
EXTRAS
Read the first page https://people.com/emma-donoghue-paris-express-new-novel-excerpt-exclusive-8705180
TRANSLATIONS
The Paris Express is forthcoming in Spanish (US and Spain editions), Portuguese, and Italian.
REVIEWS
'For its sheer inventiveness, Donoghue’s novel, weaving fiction so very closely with fact, is a shining, bravura masterpiece.' - Irish Independent
'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.' - Independent
'A riveting mix of social commentary and mystery…has much in common with Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express….Meticulous research has gone into the writing of this thriller, including into the real-life passengers on the original train….If the steam engine is an astonishing feat of engineering, so is Donoghue’s propulsive and thought-provoking 16th novel.' - Washington Post
'Explosiive thriller ... her well-judged pacing has created an enthralling, suspenseful read' - Irish Examiner
'Deliciously tense ... a heart-pounding ride' - Real Simple
'Well-researched, empathetic… steams across fin-de-siècle France with unstoppable momentum.' - Wall Street Journal
'Sheer inventiveness ... a shining, bravura masterpiece' - Sunday Independent
'Donoghue is not a timid custodian of the past but an excavator, digging beneath bromides to unearth the defiant truth.' - Irish Times
'A nail-biter' - People
'Deft and intelligent' - Guardian
'Riveting and entertaining' - Bustle
'Historical fiction you can feel in your bones' - Los Angeles Times
'Hitchcockian suspense... Smart, skillful entertainment.' - Kirkus
'Entertaining... beautifully captures the thrill and romance of train travel’s heyday.' - Minneapolis Star-Tribune
'Donoghue’s particular forte lies in showing how confined circumstances shape interactions. Her characterization is a marvel as she dexterously illustrates people’s outward appearances and innermost desires. In her hands, the novel’s long-ago setting becomes an exciting place buzzing with fresh life and technological ideas on the cusp of a new century, even as horror strikes.' - Booklist (starred review)
'Thrilling, thought-provoking... only a writer as talented as Donoghue could have readers so immersed in fin de siecle Paris ... Each and every beautifully written word counts in The Paris Express, as Donoghue wonderfully illuminates the fleeting quarlities of both life and art' - BookPage
Clever, ambitious, and richly researched. 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
'Donoghue's talents are at such glorious heights in this novel' - Heather O'Neill
'Emma Donoghue manages to hold a mirror up to a whole society, from its train porters to its members of parliament, and show that however much one tries to wrench life to conform to one's will, everyone is vulnerable to its shocks. What an absorbing, panoramic, meticulously researched, lovingly peopled gem.' - Esi Edugyan
'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
'An eclectic, international cast, each with their own rich inner life and urgent plans for the future. Titanic superfans will fall hard for this historically immersive story of glamour, hubris, chaos, and heartache.' - O, The Oprah Magazine
'Donoghue establishes an intricate web of human relationships as the narrative speeds toward an unexpected yet plausible finale….Readers ought to jump on board.' - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Interview on NPR https://www.npr.org/2025/03/19/nx-s1-5119315/author-emma-donoghue-discusses-her-new-historical-thriller-the-paris-express