Taut period thriller The Paris Express resonates with the present

Emma Donoghue's work may be set in the 19th century, but it is a multi-layered societal critique

- Myle Yan Tay

THE PARIS EXPRESS By Emma Donoghue Historical Fiction/Picador/ Paperback/288 pages/$30 ★★★★

Emma Donoghue's gripping work of historical fiction takes place over a scant eight hours, following Engine 721 as it makes its way from Granville to Paris.

On board the Paris Express is a microcosm of 19th-century society, including nobles, civil servants, train workers, a painter, a medical student, a young boy, a butler, an attendant, a priest and, importantly, an anarchist with a mission.

Through this wide tapestry of characters, Donoghue connects past and present, crafting a taut thriller and a pertinent reminder of how little has changed over the last 130 years.

The novel features almost 30 distinct passengers, all on board the train for their own reasons. An American painter seeks to soak in the French countryside; a pregnant French countrywoman hopes for a better life for her baby; a Cambodian student returns for his studies at the Ecole Coloniale.

But the person the reader is most drawn to, the one who can change everyone's lives on this train, is Madeleine Pelletier, the aforementioned anarchist carrying a makeshift bomb in a bucket.