NATIONAL BESTSELLER From the bestselling and “soul-stirring” ( Oprah Daily ) author of Room , a sweeping historical “nail-biter” ( People ) of a 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. “A tension-filled panorama of fin-de-siècle French society.” —Alida Becker, The New York Times “ The Paris Express offers readers the opportunity to recognize something kindred in its characters’ passions and dilemmas….Well-researched, empathetic…steams across fin-de-siècle France with unstoppable momentum.” — Heller McAlpin, Wall Street Journal "A nail-biter - and you'll learn some history, too." — PEOPLE Magazine “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.” — Leigh Haber, Washington Post "Deliciously tense...a heart-pounding ride." — Real Simple “ Titanic superfans will fall hard for this historically immersive story of glamour, hubris, chaos, and heartache.” —Oprah Daily , most anticipated books of 2025 “Historical fiction you can feel in your bones.” — Los Angeles Times , most anticipated books of 2025 “Irresistible…beautifully capture[s] the thrill and romance of train travel’s heyday.” — Chris Hewitt, Minneapolis Star-Tribune “Captivating! Emma Donoghue writes in rich, luxuriant detail, yet the story moves at an exhilarating clip. THE PARIS EXPRESS brings big questions about human interconnectedness into an edge-of-your-seat historical thriller that I couldn’t put down.” — Shelby Van Pelt, author of REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES Born in Dublin in 1969, Emma Donoghue is an Irish emigrant twice over: she spent eight years in Cambridge doing a PhD in 18th-century literature before moving to London, Ontario, where she lives with her partner and their two children. She migrates between genres, writing for screen and stage, but she is best known for her novels, which range from the historical ( The Wonder , Frog Music , Slammerkin , Life Mask , The Sealed Letter ) to the contemporary ( Akin , Stir-Fry , Hood , Landing ). Her international bestseller Room was a New York Times Best Book of the Year and a finalist for the Man Booker, Commonwealth, and Orange Prizes. Donoghue also wrote the screenplays for Room and The Wonder . Her next film (adapted with Philippa Lowthorpe from Helen Macdonald’s memoir) is H Is for Hawk . 1. 8:30 a.m.: Embark Granville 8:30 a.m. EMBARK GRANVILLE There isn’t a train I wouldn’t take, No matter where it’s going. EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, “TRAVEL” (1921) Half past eight in the morning, on the twenty-second of October, 1895, in Granville, on the Normandy coast. Stocky, plain, and twenty-one, in her collar, tie, and boxy skirt, Mado Pelletier stands across the street from the little railway station holding her lidded metal lunch bucket, watching. The down train, as they call any service from the capital, deposited Mado here yesterday afternoon, sooty and bone-jarred. Only now does it occur to her that she could have waited until this morning to leave Paris, disembarked early at Dreux, Surdon, or Flers, bought what she needed, and caught the next express back. All that really matters is that she be on a fast train to Paris by lunchtime on the twenty-second. She supposes she came all the way to Granville because it’s the end of the line. The Company of the West’s posters call this wind-raked town the Monaco of the North. In the hours Mado’s been here, she hasn’t sought out the lighthouse or the casino or any of the so-called sights of this resort, off-season. Except one—she had a hankering to, for once in her life, set eyes on the sea. It wasn’t pretty like everyone said. Wonderfully fierce, in fact—those waves biting into the stones of the beach yesterday evening as the sun went down behind th