Paula Hawkins Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Paula Hawkins is an upcoming author from Zimbabwe, who has recently published the first novel of her career titled ‘The Girl on the Train’. She has received a lot of praises from one and all for the unique content of her novel that has helped it to become extremely successful. Before becoming an author, Paula had worked as a journalist for more than 15 years. After coming hard for so many years and not getting anything fruitful, he decided to try her hand at writing fiction novel. The novel that allowed her to become successful in her first attempt is based on the Mystery genre. Paula says that the novel is very close to her heart as she has invested a lot of energy and thinking in it in order to be appreciated by everyone. The thriller plot of the novel is very well described by her. It is different from the typical thriller novels and depicts a very good story and character sketches. Paula Hawkins was born and raised in Zimbabwe and moved to London in the year 1989. She has been living in London since then and enjoyed working in the city, first as a journalist and then as an author. Paula says that she was very fond of writing thriller stories right from her teenage days after reading several mystery and thriller novels. As she had no formal training or experience in writing, she decided to take up the job as a journalist and earn her living. However, her passion for writing mystery stories did not fade away and she returned to the path of novel writing after working as a journalist for fifteen years. When Paula moved to London at the age of 17, she spent most of her time starring at other people’s attires and way of living. She had never experienced traveling in public transport before as she had grown up in Zimbabwe. Her first journey from Putney Bridge to Earls Court in an overground train was full of exciting views full of open windows and gardens. She has started to feel a sense of connection with the houses that she had to come across daily during her daily commute.

At first, she did not know what to do and where to go as she did not have anyone familiar in London. She made a good use of her commuting experience by describing it in her novel The Girl on the Train, which eventually paid off. The novel came to be known as the new Gone Girl and helped Paula to gain some success. She has given a wide description of her daily commute from Buckinghamshire to Euston in the 8.04 train. The novel became so much successful that it attained the top position in the bestseller chart of the United Kingdom and has held the position for 5 months continuously from January 2015 till today. It went on to sell a copy every 20 seconds and also became widely popular in America where it sold more than a million copies all over. The novel is also on sale as of now in 35 different countries. Paula grew up in a suburb of Harare where her father was working as an economist. She had all the elements of an ideal childhood, including swimming pools and tennis courts. When she grew older, she moved to London in search of better opportunities there. First Paula graduated with a degree in philosophy, economics and politics from Oxford and then went on to spend the next 15 years of her life working as a financial journalist. It was during the aftermath of the financial crisis that took place in the year 2008 that she got the chance to write fiction for the first time. Paula has always been a huge fan of the authors Pat Barker and Kate Atkinson.

The novel ‘The Girl on the Train’ written by Paula Hawkins was published in the year 2015 by the Riverhead Books. The plot of the novel is set in London, England, United Kingdom and revolves around the same place where the author had gone to work. The novel describes the daily commute of the author, in particular and explains her experiences which has helped her connect with the new location. The novel is considered to be a psychological thriller and has the potential of the changing the way people look at the lives of the people around them. The opening sequence of the novel introduces the central character named Rachel, who follows the same route to go to her work and also returns through the same route every day. She maintains her time schedule in such a way that she always gets to catch the same commuter train every day. During her commute, she rattles down the same rail track and flashes past a series of attractive suburban homes. Her train always stops at the same signal and at the same time, which allows Rachel to witness the same couple having breakfast on their table. The commute has become so much repetitive that Rachel has begun to think that she knows them very closely. She refers to the couple as Jeff and Jason and feels that their life is perfect in all aspects and not like the one that she had earlier.

However, the situation takes a shocking turn when she witnesses something unbelievable. Even though there is only a minute left for the train to resume its commute from the signal, Rachel witnesses everything through her eyes and does not believe what she has seen. She finds it difficult to keep it to herself what she has seen and decides to take the help of the police. She tells them everything and also asks them to take immediate action. With her involvement in the case she becomes a part of it and also becomes entwined in the happenings that are about to take place as well as in the lives of all those are already involved in the case. Soon, Rachel begins to doubt her actions and wonders whether she has done good or bad by informing the police about the case. The novel follows an emotionally attached and a compulsive plot that makes the readers keep turning pages. The thrill of the plot of the novel is similar to that of the Hitchcockian thrillers and makes the readers tempted to read further. Paula was appreciated for the efforts that she has put in her debut novel. She was praised by one and all and was motivated for writing a few more novels. She is currently working on her future novels and is about to release them as soon as they get completed.

One Response to “Paula Hawkins”

1. Dawn Flowers: 3 years ago

   I am an avid book reader and have been the for years but I’ve NEVER read a book that touched me
   So psychologically and emotionally!!
   It kept me thinking constantly and shocked at the twisted ending!
   Keep writing Ms. Hawkins I’m ready to read more!!
   AWESOME!!

   Reply