“Donoghue's talents are at such glorious heights in this novel, the reader feels as though they are on the titular train, bustling next to strangers, staring out the window, and hurtling towards Paris. And it's near impossible to put the book down until it reaches its final destination. Donoghue beautifully crafts a world that captures the vitality and smells and sights of Victorian France, while investigating the different classes who inhabited the same spaces, but lived worlds apart....Donoghue's train is a microcosm of Paris of the times, ready to explode.” - 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. 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
“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)
“In exploring a little-remembered event in history, 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, author of the Booker Prize finalist Washington Black
“A tension-filled panorama of fin-de-siècle French society.” - 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 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.” - Leigh Haber, Washington Post
“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
“Titanic superfans will fall hard for this historically immersive story of glamour, hubris, chaos, and heartache.” - Oprah Daily, most anticipated books of 2025
"A zippy Agatha Christie-like thriller giving a taste of life in fin-de-siècle France." - Guardian
“Thrilling….I could not put this book down.” - Bill Goldstein, NBC New York
“Historical fiction you can feel in your bones.” - Los Angeles Times, most anticipated books of 2025
"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
"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 (UK)
"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
