The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By Paperback by Georges Simenon; Translated by Siân Reynolds

Product Details

• Publisher: Penguin Books (2017-10-17)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 256 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780241258552
• Item Weight: 198.45 grams
• Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.12 x 0.6 cm

“A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason.” —John Le Carré

In this Georges Simenon classic, a Dutch clerk flees to Paris with his crooked boss’s money and meets the woman behind the man

“A certain furtive, almost shameful emotion . . . disturbed him whenever he saw a train go by, a night train especially, its blinds drawn down on the mystery of its passengers.”

Kees Popinga is a respectable Dutch citizen and family man—until the day he discovers his boss has bankrupted the shipping firm he works for, and something snaps. Kees used to watch the trains go by on their way to exciting destinations. Now, on some dark impulse, he boards one at random, and begins a new life of recklessness and violence. The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By is a chilling portrayal of a man who breaks from society and goes on the run asks who we are, and what we are capable of.

About the Author

Georges Simenon was born in Liège, Belgium, in 1903. He is best know in Britain as the author of the Maigret novels and his prolific output of over 400 novels and short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had lived for the latter part of his life.