The Paris Express by Emma Donghue

Emma Donoghue’s latest historical novel takes its inspiration from a famous photograph of a train crash at Montparnasse station in 1895. In that photo a steam engine has ploughed through the wall of the upper level of Montparnasse train station and sits nose first on the road. The story of The Paris Express is that of the passengers and crew of that train, some real, many imagined, and their journey to Paris. And while some of the large cast of characters are interesting it is really unclear what Donoghue is trying to achieve with this novel other than just provide her own snapshot of a particular time and place.

The narrative of The Paris Express follows the train from its embarkation in Normandy through to Paris. The authorial eye ranges over the crew and the passengers from third class through to first class. Only a handful of these were known to actually be on the train, many of the others are real historical figures who Donoghue imagines onto the train in order to explore their milieu. This includes a performer called Annah Lamor who was also one of Gaugin’s muses, Fulgence Bienvenüe who came up with the idea for the Paris Metro, an anarchist called Mado, and Alice Guy who went on to be one of the first film directors. This is just a small selection of the huge cast that move through the narrative. Their stories are in and of themselves interesting but Donoghue dips in and out of their lives too briefly to get any more than a character sketch.

In the end The Paris Express, while interesting and packed with foreboding, does not amount to much. Donoghue herself admits, in a lengthy Afterword which talks about the backgrounds of the actual and potential passengers, that the accident was so minor (only one person died and it was not anyone on the train, and the train was back in service a few weeks later) that it was not even recorded in an annual report on the Railways. Historical fiction does not necessarily have to have a point, but so many of Donoghue’s other historical books (Haven, The Wonder, Learned By Heart) invest deeply in the characters and are all so thematically rich that this effort only seems the poorer in comparison.

The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue

7.5

7.5/10