There’s a really famous photo of a train accident at Paris Montparnasse station in 1895 – in it, the steam engine of the train has overshot the end of the line and is hanging out of the station through the giant glass windows. It’s an arresting image and one that Emma Donoghue has taken as the inspiration for her new book. Who was on that train, speeding unknowingly towards the derailment?
The book is very fragmented, skipping between lots of characters on the train across all the classes, including the railway staff. At first, I found this quite hard to follow, especially remembering who everyone was and how they all fitted together. However, after a while, it all came together and I started to find the characters engaging. It’s a true slice of late 19th century French life, from the train guards and stokers to high-ranking political figures, from the wealthy invalid in her own carriage to the young terrorist, from the schoolboy to the pregnant woman nearing her due date, the coffee seller to the woman aspiring to be a doctor. As is Donoghue’s tendency, there is a feminist slant to some of the stories – and it is the women who are often the strongest or the most visionary (something I like about her writing).
As well as basing the events on a real incident, Donoghue’s cast includes real people too – and this is all explained in the author’s note at the end. Fans of historical fiction will find a lot to enjoy here – the historical detail is pin-sharp and vivid, from the heat and steam of the engine footplate to the claustrophobic quiet of the private carriage for the sick woman.
It’s an immersive book if you can allow yourself to go with the narrative, switching between people and carriages frequently. I definitely enjoyed learning about the people, the time period and the incident itself and would recommend it to anyone who likes thought-provoking and intense reads. There’s certainly a lot of tension as the train hurtles towards its final destination with the passengers unaware of what’s coming.
With thanks to NetGalley for my review copy of the book – opinions are entirely my own.
I’m delighted to start the blog tour for ‘The Continental Affair’!
With thanks to Random Things Tours and Bedford Square Publishers for my spot on the tour and copy of the book for review. Opinions, as always, are my own.
From the Publisher:
With gorgeous prose, European glamour, and an expansive wanderlust, Christine Mangan’s ‘The Continental Affair’ is a fast-paced, Agatha Christie-esque caper packed full of romance and suspense.
‘Reads as if Jean Rhys and Patricia Highsmith collaborated on a script for Alfred Hitchcock; it is an elegant, delirious fever dream of a book.’
The Irish Times
Meet Henri and Louise. Two strangers, travelling alone, on the train from Belgrade to Istanbul.
Except this isn’t the first time they have met.
It’s the 1960s, and Louise is running.
From her past in England, from the owners of the money she has stolen―and from Henri, the person who has been sent to collect it.
Across the Continent―from Granada to Paris, from Belgrade to Istanbul―Henri follows. He’s desperate to leave behind his own troubles and the memories of his past life as a gendarme in Algeria.
But Henri soon realises that Louise is no ordinary traveller.
As the train hurtles toward its final destination, Henri and Louise must decide what the future will hold―and whether it involves one another.
Stylish and atmospheric, ‘The Continental Affair’ takes you on an unforgettable journey through the twisty, glamorous world of 1960s Europe.
My Review:
I’d read and enjoyed ‘Tangerine’ by Christine Mangan, so it was a pleasure to be asked to join the blog tour for ‘The Continental Affair’. What’s not to like about a 1960s tale of glamour and mystery and romance playing out across some of Europe’s most gorgeous cities?
The story is told from both Henri’s and Louise’s perspectives, and across a dual timeline. In the ‘Now’ timeline, they are meeting on a train heading across Europe. It seems to be a meeting of strangers forced to share a train compartment, but we soon discover that Henri knows exactly who Louise is – and what she’s up to. The ‘Before’ sections then take us into the back-story so that we discover more about the characters and their motivations. The longer the cat and mouse game goes on, the more the tension rises…
What I really loved about this novel was the sense of place; the detail in the descriptions of the cities is vivid and sumptuous. I particularly loved the focus on the Alhambra, beautiful and serene, where the two first ‘meet’. While the visual description throughout the novel is fabulous, what’s really striking is the fact that the novel is a sensory treat – this is a world where orange blossom and creponne add tantalising smells, thumbs rub against banknotes, local delicacies are tasted and the characters move in and out of the warm golden sunlight and shadows.
It’s a world – glamorous in an old-fashioned way – that is evoked so vibrantly that it feels like Mangan has dropped us into a movie. Enhancing this is the sense of claustrophobia that Mangan weaves into the novel – although European travel is open to the travellers, their personal situations mean they are trapped in different ways, be it grief, the past, money…
I found that I was more strongly drawn to Henri at the start of the novel – although his situation is morally very dubious, I really felt for his back-story and how he had managed to get into this situation far from his home in Algeria. He seemed a much more human character than the slightly aloof and detached Louise, but this initial impression soon shifted as Louise’s back-story was explored with a key moment outside a Parisian cemetery. I really started to root for her as she – this quite reserved and naive English woman – started to relax into the European way of life and make her own choices.
I did like the fact that the story kept moving between the perspectives and timelines, although it also took a bit of getting used to. I did think it was a bit of a slow-burner – the initial sections were quite slow, but I found myself totally immersed in the story once Louise left Spain with Henri following at a distance.
I’d recommend this to readers who like tense and tightly-wound noir thrillers; there’s a simmering sense of menace within the glamorous and gorgeous locations, a seductive subtext in the interactions between characters, and mysteries and secrets at the heart of the main characters. It’s a heady and appealing mix.
About the Author:
Christine Mangan is the author of the national bestsellers ‘Tangerine’ and ‘Palace of the Drowned’. She has her PhD in English from University College Dublin, with a focus on 18th-century Gothic literature, and an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Southern Maine. She lives in Detroit.
If you haven’t yet discovered Nicola Upson’s excellent historical crime series, here’s your chance.
This novel takes place in the early days of World War Two as war is declared and children evacuated en masse to the country. The Suffolk village in which Josephine Tey is living ends up with a lot more evacuees than planned, forcing those who didn’t want to take children to open their homes – the scene in the village hall where the evacuees are being homed made me really think of ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ in all the best ways! When a child goes missing, Tey and the villagers start asking questions and pointing fingers…
