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Biography
British-Zimbabwean

Paula Hawkins

1972

Paula Hawkins is a British-Zimbabwean novelist whose debut thriller, The Girl on the Train (2015), was a global publishing phenomenon — selling over twenty million copies, spending over a year on the New York Times bestseller list, and helping define the domestic thriller genre alongside Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl.

Past sales0
PeriodContemporary
NationalityBritish-Zimbabwean
1. Biography

A short life of the author

Paula Hawkins (b. 26 August 1972) was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, and moved to London in 1989. She studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford and worked as a financial journalist before turning to fiction.

Life and Career

Hawkins published four romantic comedy novels under the pen name Amy Silver before writing The Girl on the Train (2015) — a psychological thriller narrated by Rachel Watson, an alcoholic commuter who observes a couple from the train every day and becomes entangled in a disappearance — which became one of the bestselling novels of the decade. It was adapted into a 2016 film starring Emily Blunt.

Into the Water (2017) — about a series of deaths in a river in a small English town — and A Slow Fire Burning (2021) — about three women connected to a murder on a London houseboat — are her subsequent thrillers.

Major Works and Themes

Hawkins writes about unreliable narration, domestic violence, alcohol, and the hidden lives of women. The Girl on the Train helped popularize the domestic thriller subgenre.

Key Works

  • The Girl on the Train (2015)

Collecting Hawkins

The Girl on the Train first edition (Doubleday UK, 2015) in fine condition with dust jacket brings $50–$150. Signed copies are more valuable. Hawkins continues to publish.