Irish Books Podcast S1E1: Disaster on Rails: Emma Donoghue’s The Paris Express

In this episode of Irish Books, historian Professor Dianne Hall joins Chris Murray to discuss Emma Donoghue’s The Paris Express, a book that brings aspects of the thriller genre to literary fiction. Set aboard a train on a single day in 1895, The Paris Express assembles a cast of real figures, but in an alternate history in which they are propelled towards disaster. At the heart of the story is the tension between the young anarchist Mado Pelletier, who carries a bomb, and the only passenger who guesses her secret, the librarian and charity-worker Blonska. Chris and Dianne explore Donoghue’s blend of historical research and imaginative reinvention, the novel’s queer aesthetic, and how the threat of impending destruction speaks to the sense of fragility in our own time. . Dianne Hall is Professor of History at Victoria University, Melbourne. The Irish Books Podcast is proudly produced by East Coast Studio with support from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Monash University.