The Girl on the Train (novel)

The Girl on the Train

US hardcover art
Author	Paula Hawkins
Country	United Kingdom, United States
Language	English
Published	13 January 2015 (Riverhead Books, US) 15 January 2015 (Doubleday, UK)
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	336 (US) 320 (UK)
ISBN	978-1-59463-366-9

The Girl on the Train (2015) is a psychological thriller novel by British author Paula Hawkins.^[1] The novel debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 2015 list (combined print and e-book) dated February 1, 2015,^[2] and remained in the top position for 13 consecutive weeks, until April 265.^[3] In January 2016 it became the No.1 bestseller again for two weeks. Many reviews referred to the book as "the next Gone Girl", a popular 2012 novel.^[4][5]

By early March 2015, the novel had sold over 1 million copies,^[6] and 1.5 million by April.^[7] It has occupied the number one spot of the U.K. hardback book chart for 20 weeks, the longest any book has ever held the top spot.^[8] By early August 2015, the book had sold more than 3 million copies in the U.S. alone.

The film rights were acquired by DreamWorks Pictures in 2014 for Marc Platt Productions.^[9]

Plot

The story is a first person narrative told from the point of view of three women: Rachel, Anna and Megan.

Rachel Watson is a 32-year-old alcoholic reeling from the dissolution of her marriage to Tom, who left her for another woman. Rachel's drinking has caused her to lose her job and have frequent binges and blackouts, during which she harasses Tom by phone and sometimes even in person. He is now married to, and has a daughter with, his former mistress Anna – a situation that fuels Rachel's self-destructive tendencies, as it was her inability to conceive a child that sparked her alcoholism.

Concealing her unemployment from her flatmate, Rachel rides the train to London every day (her old routine), looking longingly at her former house (occupied by Tom and his new family) as she passes by and usually drinking on the return home. She also begins compulsively watching an attractive couple who live a few houses away from Tom, fantasizing about their perfectly happy life together. Rachel has never met them and has no idea that the woman, Megan Hipwell, is actually unhappy in her marriage and helps Anna care for her child. Struggling with her troubled past, Megan starts seeing a therapist, Kamal Abdic, to whom she is attracted.

Rachel is stunned to see Megan kissing a man other than her husband. After a night of heavy drinking, Rachel awakens to find herself bloody and injured, with no memories of the night before, but certain that she has done something she will regret. Soon the disappearance of Megan Hipwell is in the news, and Rachel is summoned to the police station after Anna reports seeing her staggering around drunk in the area the night Megan vanished. Rachel, sure that Megan's husband Scott is innocent, tells the police that she suspects Megan was having an affair. They find it difficult to see her as anything but a sad alcoholic stalking her ex-husband, but they identify the man she saw with Megan as Dr. Abdic. Thinking that she may have seen something—and slightly worried she may have done something to Megan herself—on the day of the incident while blacked out drunk, Rachel begins to investigate the disappearance. She lies to Megan's husband, Scott, to get close to him, in part to help him with what she knows, but also because being closely involved in the mystery is giving her a purpose other than drinking.

Megan's body is found, and Scott becomes the most likely suspect. Megan had been pregnant when she died, but neither Scott nor Abdic is the father. As Scott discovers Rachel's lies and lashes out at her, her memories of the night of the incident become more clear. Rachel remembers seeing Megan get into Tom's car. At the same time, Anna discovers evidence that Tom and Megan were having an affair. Armed with her realization that Tom has manipulated and lied to her all along, Rachel warns Anna. Tom comes home and is confronted with the truth. He confesses to having murdered Megan after she revealed that he had fathered a child with her and threatened him. Anna is cowed in fear of her daughter's safety; and, though Tom tries to beat and intimidate Rachel into keeping silent, she defies him and fights back. Knowing he is about to kill her, Rachel stabs Tom in the neck with a corkscrew. Anna helps Rachel make sure that he dies from the wound, as they watch. Their coordinated stories to the police are clearly in self-defense.

Translations

The foreign rights have been sold in 34 countries, including:

• France: published by Sonatine Éditions under the name La Fille du Train and translated by Corinne Daniellot^[10]
• Germany: published by Random House under the name Girl on the Train and translated by Christoph Göhler
• Italy: published by Piemme under the name La Ragazza del Treno and translated by B. Porteri^[11]
• Poland: published by Świat Książki under the name Dziewczyna z pociągu and translated by Jan Kraśko
• Portugal: published by Topseller under the name A Rapariga no Comboio and translated by José João Letria and revised by Diogo Montenegro
• Spain: published by Editorial Planeta under the name La Chica del Tren and translated by Aleix Montoto
• Turkey: published by İthaki Publishing-house under the name Trendeki Kız and translated by Aslıhan Kuzucan
• Traditional Chinese: published by Eurasian Publishing Group and Sole Press under the name 列車上的女孩 and translated by WANG XINXIN

Film adaptation

In March 2014, the film rights for the novel were acquired by DreamWorks Pictures, with Marc Platt set to produce.^[9] Tate Taylor, the director of The Help, was announced as the director of the film in May 2015, with the script written by Erin Cressida Wilson.^[12] In June 2015, British actress Emily Blunt was in talks to play the role of Rachel.^[13] Author Hawkins said in July 2015 that the setting of the film would be moved from the U.K to the U.S.^[14] The film began production in the New York City area in October 2015.^[15]

References