Hurtling towards disaster
‘The Paris Express’ is about people caught in motion, physically and emotionally
On October 22 1895, the number 56 train left Granville at 8.45am and reached Paris’ Gare Montparnasse just before 4pm. But the brakes weren’t working properly. Trying to make up for lost time, the crew couldn’t stop the train. It overshot the buffers, smashed through the station wall, and plunged nose-first into the street below. Crowds rushed to see the wreck. The story made headlines around the world as engineers struggled for days to remove the 50-tonne locomotive. The crash became one of the most famous in history, immortalised by dramatic photographs and widespread fascination.
Emma Donoghue (Room, 2010; Frog Music, 2014; and The Pull of the Stars, 2020) reimagines the derailment in her latest novel, The Paris Express, set on board the Granville-to-Paris train, and unfolding in real time over the course of seven hours...
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