There can’t be many people who have not heard of the phenomenal success of “The Girl on the Train” a psychological thriller by Paula Hawkins, the number one in UK hardback book chart for a record breaking 20 weeks, and by August 2016, sales have reached an estimated 11 million copies worldwide, translated into 40 languages. In the US it has been described as "the fastest selling adult novel in history".
Paula Hawkins was joined on stage by the Turkish crime writer, Esmahan Aykol, whose latest murder mystery is “Divorce Turkish Style”, ina series featuring her amateur sleuth Kati Herschel. The presenter was Rosie Goldsmith, a journalist who started off the conversation by asking which crime writers they admired – Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell, and both had avidly read Agatha Christie as teenager which inspired a passion for murder.
During a curious discussion on their worst jobs (bars and coffee shops), their favourite TV crime series, Paula’s previous work as a financial journalist and a childhood in Harare, Zimbabwe, I wondered when we would be actually discussing their respective novels.
As such a global bestselling writer, Paula was asked “Are you rich?” to which she replied, “My friends are more polite than you.” (The correct response). Esmahan then described her heroine who runs a crime writing bookshop, but in fact there are none in Istanbul, and today publishers are being closed down, “it is a city of fear, bombs and police.” At this tragic time politically in Turkey, the most important aspect is that books are widely translated.
It was interesting to learn that Paula had previously written four chick-lit romances under a pseudonym, Amy Silver, although she told the audience, with a laugh, not to bother reading them! “The Girl on the Train” is her debut as a crime writer but she is not interested in police procedurals and forensic science. The literary power is the characterisation of three very different women - how she gets into the head of Rachel, Amy and Megan is nothing short of masterly.
As a kind of contemporary “4.50 from Paddington,” (my words, not Paula's), the drama begins on “the 8.04 slow train from Ashbury to Euston – the journey is meant to take 54 minutes but rarely does …my head leaning against the carriage window, I see these houses roll past .. the sight of strangers safe at home”.
But when she sees a pile of clothing on the side of the train tracks, Rachel is a witness to something sinister, reminiscent of James Stewart spying on neighbours in Hitchcock’s movie “Rear Window.” Switching between the three voices and viewpoints, it’s brilliantly plotted, day by day, 5 July to 18 August creating the perfect page turner.
Unwittingly getting caught up in a murder case is also the scenario for Kati Hirschel, who observes a woman lunching alone in the restaurant next door to her bookshop. Then she is found dead in her apartment but Kati does not believe this sudden death in the middle of her divorce from a wealthy husband, is an accident...
And there was a timely mention that “The Girl on the Train” has been adapted into a film, re-located to New York. For a little Hollywood gossip, Reese Witherspoon offered herself for the role, having read the novel overnight, as well as Gwyneth Paltrow, but Emily Blunt was finally picked to play Rachel, the G and T drinking, unreliable narrator and rather tragic heroine. The new movie tie-in novel will, of course, sell even more copies!
Performance details:
This Magical Mystery Tour author event - EIBF, 13 August, 2016.
Girl on the Train
Divorce Turkish Style