The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.5 stars
Publication date: 20th March 2025

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It is 1895. A high-speed steam train is the emblem of progress. Industry and invention are creating ever greater wealth and poverty. One autumn day an anarchist boards the Granville to Paris Express.

I enjoyed this so much! This was well-written, propulsive (quite literally) and I couldn't put it down.
This book has a huge cast of characters, and multiple POVs that we cycle through quite swiftly - which can sometimes make it tricky to remember who's who. In this train, Emma Donoghue creates a microcosm of society, from the elite in their private carriage to the people crammed in third class. There was some interesting societal commentary about the political unrest in France at the time, and the train itself (or “herself” as Engine 721 is personalised throughout the book) is a symbol of the rapid industrialisation across the country.
As the train hurtles through the French countryside, we spend a little moment in time with all those passengers - we learn about their lives, loves, hopes, desires, despair and anger - whilst in the background, Donoghue subtly and skillfully ramps the tension up.
This book is based on a real-life event and (some) real-life characters - as such, the author’s notes are well worth reading for some fascinating history and context.

'The Paris Express' is Emma Donoghue's latest historical fiction novel. It is referring to the Montparnasse train disaster on 22.10.1895, where the fast steam train from Granville to Paris couldn't break in time and crashed through the Montparnasse train station wall.

In the novel we meet various characters who travel on the train to Paris, amongst them politicians, a pregnant woman, an anarchist and a painter. Whereas the travellers and workmen are well presented and give a great snapshot of French society at the end of the 19th century, it feels a little convoluted as there were too many characters without enough depth.

There was also a lot of technical information and detail about steam trains which I did enjoy. It showed how much research Emma Donoghue has put into her novel.

As always I enjoyed her writing but I found the book slow to get into. However in the last third it picked up the pace as the train workers struggled to avoid the inevitable.

It is a well researched and well written work of historical fiction.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for thr ARC.

If you love steam trains, quirky French characters and stories set around the fin de siècle, you might just love Emma Donoghue’s latest work The Paris Express.

While it chugged along for me, I found it too densely packed with detail on steam train engineering and characters whose lives seemed interesting but of whom the reader only getting a fleeting glimpse.

The novel is based on the real-life 1895 train crash of a steam train travelling from Granville to Paris, which was unable to stop as it approached its terminus at Montparnasse and crashed through the railway station wall onto the street outside.

The story is told in vignettes of the passengers’ lives - we meet a politician, a trainee physicist working for Marie Curie, a female anarchist, an unmarried pregnant woman, the train’s driver and stoker, a closeted gay man, Irish writer John Millington Synge, American painter Henry Tanner and many more.

It’s a fascinating at times insight into French life and society in 1895 at the turn of the 19th century, aspects of which were more progressive than in Ireland in 1985! However there is just so much detail on the ins and outs of steam trains and some dull dialogue. The last couple of chapters are thrilling though as the runaway train heads for the end of the line. 3/5 ⭐️

Many thanks to Picador Books for the #gifted advance copy. The Paris Express will be published this week. As always, this is an honest review.

I wanted to like this story but I only managed to get a few chapters in. Netgalley insists I leave a review to keep my rating up

Perhaps the main reason I had this as one of my most anticipated titles for 2025 in my Looking Forward post was my belated discovery last year of this author’s debut “Room” (2010) which knocked me for six and made it into my end of year Top 10.

Since then Emma Donoghue has favoured historical writing (I had previously also really enjoyed her 2016 tale of a potential miracle in nineteenth century Ireland in “The Wonder”) and here she is setting her latest novel in 1895 for a train journey by Engine 721 from Glanville to Paris, a journey scheduled to take just under eight and a half hours.

We know from the start that something is not quite right, there’s a moment of personification early on where the engine itself realises that this trip will end up in death and the narrative builds up towards this.

On one level this can be seen as a thriller which layers the tension on more of a will-they-do-it? basis. One of the passengers is harbouring a resentment that may tip over to violence. The novel is set at a time when Anarchists threatened to destabilise French society so all this feels quite plausible. On another level the novel is a character study of crew and passengers and the history of this period is allowed to shine through these individuals. It was this element that made me think of another Canadian author (Emma Donoghue also now lives in Canada), Suzette Mayr’s “The Sleeping Car Porter” (2023), a historical novel which dealt with the dynamics between a staff member and assorted passengers.

Some are on The Paris Express because of who they will become and what they will go on to do and some were really on this fateful journey. For this is a true event the author is relating but for maximum enjoyment I suggest you don’t look up anything about this, just allow the narrative to unfold and find out what the author has to say about it afterwards.

Good incorporation of history into the fiction, a solid set of characters who we meet again and again at intervals throughout the journey and the build up towards something we are not sure exactly what or how (unless you’ve looked it up) is handled impressively. This author knows how to tell and layer stories and this is another strong novel from her.

The Paris Express is published on 20th March by Picador. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

I had an interesting experience while reading The Paris Express. I hadn’t seen the blurb at all, so didn’t know what it was about, but while reading this historical fiction set – yes, on a train, Engine 721 to be precise, going from Granville on the north-west coast of France to Paris, I realised I recognised one or two of the character names and The Paris Express took an intriguing twist.

Author Emma Donoghue says in the book notes that she was inspired by the real 1895 Montparnasse train crash and while some of the characters on her version of Engine 721 were actually on the real train, she has woven in others to drive her story and capture the air of unrest and revolution that was prevalent in turn-of-the-century Paris. Arguably, still there today.

The first thing you have to get your head around is the high number of characters that are introduced in quite quick succession. Think Agatha Christie style when she’s giving us all the potential murderers in a closed-box situation. Although this isn’t a murder mystery.

The Paris Express is a snapshot of French society and human nature – from the rich and powerful in first class to those struggling to get by in third class and all in-between.

I really enjoyed the blend of characters like painter Gaugin’s muse, young revolutionary Mado with so much anger and drive for change but unsure where to really channel it, world-wise Blonska and the guard and drivers of the train, who were under such pressure to make sure the train was never late, at all costs…

The Paris Express conjures up really lovely flashes of the French countryside and the scenes depicting the train and how it all works are very insightful. There are one or two chapters from the POV of the train too, which adds to the charm of this read. A very pleasant way to spend an afternoon, and I felt I’d learnt a little more about this extraordinary moment from history too.

This was a read that gradually creeps up on you, a feeling that echoes the journey of this train to Paris. It seemed to get faster and more tense as time goes on. I felt like I was reading a contemporary of James Joyce or Virginia Woolf. Both Dubliners and Mrs Dalloway have the same cast of disparate characters all gathered on public transport. She captures the psychological effect of events on different characters. It reminded me of the incident in Mrs Dalloway where a car backfires; Mrs Dalloway is anxious about her dinner party so jumps when she hears the noise, but for Septimus Smith the backfire sends him back to the trenches in a second. We’re all looking at the world through our own filter and that’s definitely the case on the Paris Express. At first there are so many different people it’s hard to keep track but then I realised that there’s someone on this train with a secret. The reader is privy to a few internal monologues, so we know something nobody else does. The fate of every passenger on this train is in the hands of one person.

The author sits us perfectly in fin de siecle France with all of the turbulence that seems to come from the turning of the century. We can see in the passengers those that are still firmly stuck in the Victorian period and those who are firmly turned in the direction of the 20th Century. Some passengers we get to know well, while others only have a small vignette, or one beautifully timed and delivered line that takes everything we thought we knew and turns it on it’s head.. There are three classes of carriage across the train, with varying degrees of comfort but it railway travel isnt glamorous for anyone - even if they’re in first class and bring duck legs and creamed leaks in their picnic bag. Mado is the character who grabbed me, with her androgynous clothing and short hair she shingles at home with a razor. She’s clearly a feminist, but has also linked herself with the anarchist movement. Marcelle is another trailblazer, hoping to study medicine and inspired by Marie Curie. Blonska is a Russian immigrant who is remarkably perceptive at reading others and throws herself into action when a woman goes into labour.. There’s also a young woman called Alice, travelling as the secretary to her boss who owns a photographic firm. She’s clearly very creative and has great business sense, using the journey to convince him they need to make moving films. I loved that we weren’t spared the more disgusting details of rail travel, where ladies have a receptacle to relieve their bladder into while the men turn their heads and the train driver and stoker have to hang their bottoms over the side of the train. We also have a kindly grandfather who hops off the train at one stop to have swift liaison with another gentleman. In one line, we also learn that two staff members have a secret life we probably wouldn't have dreamed of.

The tension grows as the train nears it’s journey’s end at Montparnasse and the driver pushes the train’s speed to make up the minutes they’ve lost en route. As the final minutes pass the reader is aware that the secret may come out. You can almost feel the story coming off the rails! This was a great piece of storytelling and the ending is a huge surprise. It comes in a form you might not expect. I really appreciated the afterword and the incredible research the author has clearly done into the time period. This isn’t just a bit of costume and train interior - although they are wonderful details - it’s the ability she has to go beyond the stereotypical idea of that time and deliver something complex, multi-layered and real.

Unfortunately I didn't get on with this at all, which is such a shame because I love Emma Donoghue. The novel follows a series of characters on a doomed train to Paris, but it's essentially a set of portraits as we jump in and out of their minds. It takes so long for anything to happen, and they're so barely connected (with each one just being impressions, rather than really affecting each other) that I really struggled to read this. I'm not sure who this is for - maybe if you're fascinated by the time period this would grip you, but I struggle to see this finding a big audience.

I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and felt like I was travelling on the train journey with them. Also enjoyed the interesting snippets of social history in France at the time.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Based on a genuine train crash, Emma Donoghue peoples the pages with the lives of passengers, all of whom are interesting, intriguing, and many unexpected and disagreeable. Also chronicled is the working life of the engineers – gruelling and poorly rewarded – and their pride and commitment to the timetable. The pace gathers momentum as the train steams to its destiny, all so well depicted.
I did find the tempo slow for the first third or so, and thought Blonsky’s insight a tad ‘stretched’ but the finale is quite something.

I love trains.
My favourite form of transport of all and prefer them to allow me time to watch the countryside and towns they pass, observe the passengers around me and reach a destination in some style I always think. Despite his politics Michael Portillo's numerous train journeys often show us the tracks, the destinations and the history behind them.
Here in Emma Donoghue's brilliant latest novel is a real moment in railway history at a time when rail travel and those huge steam engines had not just caused awe but dread. I recall Charles Dickens being involved in a train accident that forever reminded him and other potential passengers of those massive engines and their fast speed.
Trains can also be romantic - who can forget 'Brief Encounter' the film or mysterious with 'Murder on the Orient Express.'
The author literally transports us to the platform of Granville station in Normandy at 8.30 am on 22nd October 1895 when a daily train is leaving to make its way to its final destination in Paris.
People are in different carriages - First to Third Class and we are also introduced to the drivers, guards and those on all stations where passengers either arrive or depart.
There is the young boy travelling on his own needing to leave before Paris to meet his father, a man with his secretary running a photographic business, (it would be the photograph of the end of this journey that would spur the author to write about this train journey). artists, writers, oyster sellers and a young woman who has made a bomb and wants to make a point in a country that was experiencing revolution and anarchy.
All human life is here and as the train rattles through France we are totally engrossed with their lives, loves and longing. The plot seems to through us towards a tragedy that seems inevitable but as Paris approaches a totally different outcome is heading towards the buffers.
This is an extraordinary read, totally full of pace and a mix of rail history, scientific developments and as we are to discover real people who become part of the dramatic conclusion.
I'm not sure I have yet to read a bad book by Emma Donoghue.
She's right on track with this one.

Although I don't read a ton of historical fiction, Emma Donoghue is an author whose work I keep coming back to. She finds the most compelling moments in time to set her stories. The Paris Express tells the story of the last few hours of the steam train that crashed so dramatically at Montparnasse Station in 1895. Even if you think you don't know the incident, I promise you, you've seen the iconic photo!

This is less a story - the plot is: the train went too fast to stop in time and crashed - and more a series of character sketches, fleshing out the people we know were on the train and some who might have been. Donoghue colours in a snapshot of Paris at the fin de siècle, capturing how people in all stations of life might have felt. The writing really reminded me of the non-fiction work of David Grann and Erik Larson. Given how little story there was to this novel, I think Donoghue did a masterful job emulating the style of factual works that seek to humanize specific slices of history.

Thank you to Picador for providing me with an eARC to review!

Emma Donoghue has successfully used real life events as inspiration for some of her novels in the past. So I was not surprised to discover that ‘The Paris Express’ is based on the derailment at Montparnasse Station on October 22nd 1895.

The story begins at the start of the trains journey on that fateful day. We are introduced gradually to the vast cast of characters who were passengers and workers on the Granville to Paris train that morning. The main protagonist is Mado Pelletier a young French anarchist who has boarded the train intent on devastating action. As the journey proceeds we learn something of the social and political atmosphere of the period, through the conversations of the passengers which is very interesting and informative.

As always with this author’s novels the writing is excellent and obviously well researched. The account of the people involved in this tragedy the end of the novel enhanced my read immensely. For anyone interested in learning a little social history whilst enjoying a novel, this is a compelling thriller.

With thanks to NetGalley, Picador and the author for the opportunity to read and review.

I really enjoyed this book which is based on a real train crash that happened in 1895. Passengers are boarding the steam train from the Normandy coast to Paris. We get to know lots of the passengers travelling on the train, including a young anarchist who has a home made bomb in her lunch bucket, intending to blow up the train. I loved all the descriptions of the workings of the steam train, and there is a wide variety of characters. I felt the book captured the time perfectly.
Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

This book gathers steam in the second half

The Paris Express is based on true events in 1895, whereby a steam train derailed at the Paris Montparnasse Station. From the start, with subsequent stops, we are introduced to a considerable number of characters from all over the world. They are journeying from Granville Station at 08:30, due to arrive at their destination at 16:00.

There is much historical fact and class information included within this story. We are shown how the stations had a different time both outside and in the station. There is class information as to who could travel on what carriage and the differences experienced. Plus, lots of information regarding driving and staffing of the steam trains.

It was hard to connect with any specific passenger as there were a lot of them, plus most were unlikeable. They did, however, show much detail of how the world was at that time, politically, culturally and economically. The passenger’s stories showed poverty, prejudice and class systems, in each of their day to day lives.

This was a short read, slow to start, but did cleverly gather steam as we headed towards the inevitable outcome. The clear descriptions allowed the reader to visualise events, the passengers and the crash. Throughout the story you could hear, feel and even smell the train and surroundings and dramatic climax at the end.

Emma Donoghue includes photos and details at the end showing the actual derailment, together with historical information regarding the passengers. She details any information which has been changed for artistic license or other reasons and why. This is very informative.

Overall, I found the read interesting, but for me, the story would have worked better with fewer passengers to follow. I agree with another reviewer, that I can see this working beautifully on the big screen and much more impactive.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for access to this ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

Not an easy read so was a DNF for me,too many words used that didn’t need to be made the chapters I did read labourious, needed to be mire reader friendly so could build a picture of the characters etc

A little slow to start and then sped up (but I think this was probably intentional to mirror the speed of the train as the journey progresses).

I didn’t realise until the author’s note at the end that this was based on real events - the 1895 Montparnasse accident (and some of the characters based on real people - there had clearly been a lot of detailed research into this novel), but I don’t think if I had been aware of the outcome it would have reduced my enjoyment of this book.

There was a big cast of characters, I especially liked Mado and Blonska. The story moved between view points which I can sometimes find tricky but it held my attention well and I found the voices distinctive.

It even managed to lead me to find out more about French politics at the time (I love reading fiction that encourages looking down more rabbit holes) which was unexpected!

Very different to “Room” but I enjoyed reading this a lot and will look out for more books by Emma Donohughe in the future.

The Paris Express by Emma Donohue is superb achievement - a tense but delightful story.

Initially, I could not see how this could be a novel, but I was wrong. Captivated after a few chapters and blown away by the end, I must pay tribute to the skill of the author in creating this incredible piece of fiction.

Such a great cast of characters with their intricate back stories kept me intrigued. I also loved that this was based on historical events.

Based on the 1895 Montparnasse train disaster, this novel is impeccably researched and shows us a slice of life in Paris at the end of the 19th century.

The action takes place almost exclusively on the train, we are introduced to the many varied characters who occupy the different carriages. The carriage ‘hopping’ felt quite cinematic and I can see it working well on screen, providing the audience with a glimpse of the numerous travellers.

At times I struggled to keep track of all the characters; some were stronger than others and I felt more invested in their stories. On reading the author’s notes at the end of the book, I realised the attention to detail which had gone into creating the cast list. The majority of the characters are based on real people from the local area in 1895 and Emma Donoghue has created a story for each of them based on details she has found during her research. I thought this was a unique and fascinating approach.

The final third of the book is very tense and I really wasn’t sure how it was going to end; would the ending be true to real life events or would be be offered an ‘alternative history’?

It’s a brilliant piece of historical fiction, well researched and really gives you a flavour of time and place.

What a ride! And this is referred to many things: to the literal ride of the Paris Express that this book tells, to this beautiful novel which let me enter in the lives of real and fictional people and let me travel in time.
“The Paris Express” by Emma Donoghue is not about a story but human beings, with all their contradictions, dreams, fears, desires. There’s no a real story but multiple voices, echoes from the past, that remind us we’re all the same. It’s true, there are many characters and this can scary a little, but Donoghue has been very able to give to each one their own voice. I also found brilliant the novel structure which follows the Paris Express stops, which reminds me travel books by 18th Century Russian authors and of great 19th classics, and surely I’ve been drawn by this part: I love travels by train and novels about them, because behind them are hidden more complex narrations, since they’re actually a pretext to analyse a society transforming fast, the destructive and creative ferocious of industrialisation, the power relations which build the relationships between social classes and gender identities. The same is done by “The Paris Express”, which through its characters, talks about the challenges that still women and people belonging to minority groups (especially the racialised ones) have to deal with, the relations between social classes and between those who own the power and those who are crashed by it that here is portrayed by how wagons are divided. Feminists, anarchists, rebels, artists of every kind, intellectuals, scholars, scientists. Men, women, other. White and racialised people. Politicians, bourgeoises, proletarians, farmers. Children, adults. Life and death.
“The Paris Express” is a funny, thought-provoking, rebel and amazing novel. And all of you must read it.