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'The Girl on the Train': Author Paula Hawkins drops hints about her next project

Hawkins' book 'Train' has become a massive bestseller. So what's next for the author? Hawkins reveals some details about her newest project.

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Matt Dunham/AP
Paula Hawkins is the author of 'The Girl on the Train.'
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

Everyone’s talking about writer Paula Hawkins, and now we know some of what her next project will be about. 

Hawkins is the author behind the bestseller “The Girl on the Train,” which was first released this past January. The novel centers on Rachel, a divorced woman who often sees a couple inside their apartment from her vantage point on a train and imagines what their life is like. When the wife disappears, Rachel herself becomes a suspect when she is said to have been near the couple’s apartment at the time of the disappearance and Rachel herself cannot refute this because of her drinking problem.

Some critics called the book “the next ‘Gone Girl’” and the novel received many positive reviews, with Amazon selecting it as one of the best books to come out that January. Sales have been great, too; the book is still at number one on the IndieBound hardcover fiction bestseller list for the week of March 19 and it’s currently ranked at number one on the New York Times combined print and e-book fiction list for the week of March 22. 

So what’s next for Hawkins? The author told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview that her next book will take place in northern England. “It’s a similar genre [as that of ‘Train’] and it’s also going to be narrated by women but a very different book,” the author said. “I haven’t really talked about his much because it’s quite a difficult thing to explain. Because it sounds weird. It’s got quite a gothic feel to it. It’s not about witch-hunting, I can tell you this. However, I wanted there to be something about women being accused of witchcraft. That didn’t happen much in the south of England. Mostly that happened in Scotland and the north. That part of England really lends itself to a dark and gothic and brooding novel, so it worked out. I’m not at the point where I’ve got an elevator pitch, as you can tell! But I’m working on it and I think that it will be out next year.” 

So “Train” fans, keep an eye out for Hawkins’ newest work.

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