The Paris Express

By: Emma Donoghue

Narrated by: Justin Avoth

A woman determined to make her mark. A journey that will change everything.

'Ratchets up the pace until it's hurtling along as fast as the train itself' – Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Room and The Pull of The Stars, Emma Donoghue takes readers on a thrilling ride through a simmering turn-of-the-century Paris on the edge of a dazzling future.

Autumn, 1895. Paris is as chaotic as it is glamorous, with industry and invention creating huge wealth and terrible poverty. One morning, an anarchist boards the ill-fated Granville to Paris express train, determined to make her mark on history.

Aboard the train are others from across the globe: the railway crew who have built a life together away from their wives, a little boy travelling alone for the first time, an artist far from home, a wealthy statesman and his invalid wife, and a young woman with a secret.

Truths are revealed and relationships forged as the train speeds towards the City of Light and a future that will change everything . . .

'An edge-of-your-seat historical thriller that I couldn't put down' – Shelby Van Pelt, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures

©2025 Emma Donoghue (P)2025 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

Critic reviews

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)

Donoghue's talents are at such glorious heights in this novel (Heather O'Neill, author of The Capital of Dreams)

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)