Moonlight Express

From the author of the smash-hit Around the World in 80 Trains comes a new globetrotting journey - this time celebrating the peculiar magic and mayhem of the night train.

'Nobody writes trains like Monisha Rajesh' Irvine Welsh
'Hugely entertaining' The Times
'A moonlit express train to travel writing heaven. This is Monisha Rajesh's wittiest and most irresistible adventure yet' William Dalrymple

The wonder of the night train: headlamps ablaze, passengers boarding after sunset and leaving before sunrise, slipping in and out of compartments unseen. For Monisha Rajesh, the singular thrill of sleeper trains inspired a new journey around the world - one filled with moonlit landscapes, cosy compartments and quirky companions.

From Austria's Nightjet to the Caledonian Sleeper and the Santa Claus Express, Rajesh invites us on an adventure aboard the world's most wondrous night trains. Along the way, she samples reindeer stew in Scandinavia, retraces the original route of the Orient Express, sips on pisco sours aboard the Andean Explorer, and watches the sun rise over the Potomac River on the Silver Meteor to New York.

A decade ago night trains were giving way to budget airlines and high-speed rail. But as people search for slower and more environmentally friendly ways to travel, night trains are in the midst of a renaissance. By turns romantic and hilarious, Moonlight Express brings us along for the ride - and drops us back at the platform before sunrise.

Review

Eloquently and amusingly combines the fact and fiction, the cocktail hours and backed-up loos, the charming ticket inspectors and deranged fellow travellers, as she enjoys - and endures - 18 journeys spanning four continents . . . Hugely entertaining -- Christian House ― The Times

Full of the stuff of life . . . Rajesh is excellent at drawing out the reasons why people are travelling by train and most have a story to tell -- Christian Wolmar ― Spectator

I love trains, and nobody writes trains like Monisha Rajesh. Most of all, I'm nuts about night trains. You can't beat shuffling into a dead, post-apocalyptic station, slipping or battling into sleep, and waking up, emerging into another city that is just coming alive -- IRVINE WELSH, author of Trainspotting

Rajesh's adventures - involving multiple sleeper trains - are filled with literary wonderment, plot twists and unsavoury revelations . . . Rajesh is never didactic, weaving these revelations into her human encounters . . . Mesmerising prose tantalises readers to not only read one but also experience for themselves the routes that Rajesh has embarked on . . . Written beautifully as a travel journalist's love letter to trains, her book is also an implicit argument for the kinds of social bonds that are maintained with "less efficient" means of transport. It is a book to savour -- Shawn Hoo ― Straits Times

Remarkable: not just a book about travelling, but about the stories we collect, the people we meet, and the world that we see differently with every connection we make along the way. I loved it -- JOANNE HARRIS, author of Chocolat

A moonlit express train to travel writing heaven, steaming through the night emitting plumes of bright sparks from its smokestack. This is Monisha Rajesh's wittiest and most irresistible adventure yet -- WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

Monisha Rajesh has chosen one of the best ways of seeing the world. Never too fast, never too slow, her journey does what trains do best. Getting to the heart of things. Prepare for a very fine ride -- Michael Palin on 'Around the World in 80 Trains'

A wonderful companion -- Irvine Welsh on 'Around India in 80 Trains'

Crackles and sparks with life like an exploding box of Diwali fireworks -- William Dalrymple on 'Around India in 80 Trains'

What makes the book is Rajesh's wit, astute observations and willingness to try everything . . . She arrived at St Pancras, on time, tired and triumphant. Her riveting account of the odyssey leaves us feeling the same -- THE TIMES on 'Around the World in 80 Trains'

Rajesh is a rare rising star of the genre . . . She has a simple and easy style, she sees everything and listens to everyone, she's funny when she wants to be and serious when she needs to be, and she keeps the whole thing barreling along like a wonderful dinner party conversation -- DAILY MAIL on 'Around the World in 80 Trains'

A triumph: a rollicking account, full of memorable encounters and laced with wit -- THE WEEK on 'Around the World in 80 Trains'

Rajesh offers us a never-ending series of Theroux-esque, quirky anecdotes . . . If you fancy learning about global travel in the relative slow lane, try boarding this carriage and staring out the window -- GEOGRAPHICAL on 'Around the World in 80 Trains'

About the Author

Monisha Rajesh is a British journalist whose writing has appeared in Time magazine, the New York Times, and Vanity Fair. Her first book, Around India in 80 Trains, was named one of the Independent's best books on India. Her second book, Around the World in 80 Trains, won the National Geographic Traveller Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year. In 2024 she was named in Condé Nast Traveller's Women Who Travel Power List, alongside Eva Longoria, Padma Lakshmi and others. She lives in London.