The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins became one of the hottest new titles for 2015. Currently the suspense thriller is #1 at Amazon bestselling list.
The novel was initially published on January 13 by different branches of Penguin around the world. The incredible story told by the main character Rachel was praised around the world. Here are some interesting facts about the book.

The British publisher Transworld brought the rights in August 2013. They needed 17 months before the novel will be officially released. According to some reports Hawkins received a six-figures sum for the signing, which is hardly to believe speaking for an author, who was totally unknown before the book speeds up in 2015.

40 000 were the initial copies that were printed in USA Another 450 000 were reprinted after the huge success of the story.

Girl or Woman? Many critics are wondering why the book was called The Girl on the Train, and why not The Woman on the Train. The answer is simple. The publishers are trying to use the stream of Gone Girl, who sold almost 8 million copies and last year was adapted to a big hit movie.

DreamWorks Studios brought the rights for movie adaptation. Marc Platt, known with Legaly Blond, will be the producer. Erin Cressida Wilson, who had worked over Steven Shainberg’s Secretary, is currently doing the adaptation.

Two movies were already produced with the same name The Girl on the Train. The first one is American production about a documentary filmmaker, who boards on a train in New York and meets a young woman. The film was released in 2013. The other one is French drama with legendary Catherine Deneuve. It didn’t produce expected results after the release in 2009 and ended with 6-times less box office revenue than the budget.

Stephen King

Stephen King praised the novel. “THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, by Paula Hawkins: really great suspense novel. Kept me up most of the night. The alcoholic narrator is dead perfec”, was the twitter of the big star writer. What a better way of advertise a novel.

Amy Silver is the pen name of Paula Hawkins. As a ghost writer she published four commercial women fictions, Confessions of a Reluctant Recessionista, All I Want for Christmas, One Minute to Midnight and The Reunion. They gathered limited success.

Paula Hawkins was almost broke when she sent the unfinished manuscript with just 45 000 words to a publisher.
“I couldn’t afford to wait until I finished the book to get a deal. I needed some sort of income, and my agent thought the first half (of the book) was very strong. ‘The Girl on the Train’ was a last roll of the dice for me as a fiction writer”, said in interview the British author.

Paula Hawkins
Photo: Kate Neil

Zimbabwe was the place where Ms. Hawkins grew. She moved to London as a 17-year-old teen.

Financial freelance journalist in The Times was the employment of the author of The Girl on the Train for almost 10 years. She had been appointed in 2000 and left in 2009.

Men prison is the most notable building close to Paula’s small house in South London. She shared it with an ex-boyfriend.

A second book by Lady Hawkins is developing on her desk. It will be a Gothic psychological thriller about sisters.

11 flights in 9 days was the price of the very first international book tour by Paula Hawkins. She traveled to 8 different cities in North America to sign her novel with growing fan base

Learn more about Paula Hawkins at her Web page
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Take a look at Laura Hawkins’s books

The Girl on the Train

as Amy Silver

Confessions of a Reluctant Recessionista
All I Want for Christmas
One Minute to Midnight
The Reunion