The Woman on the Train

Finished July 23

The Woman on the Train by Rupert Colley

This short historical novel covers three time periods. The earliest is in World War II where the main character, a young man doing an errand for the resistance is saved from interrogation by a woman in the same train car. She speaks in German to the authorities both on the train and in the station, and the man is left alone. 

Two decades later, the man is now a famous French conductor, and the woman comes to him and says that she may ask something from him in return for her actions back during the war. When the time comes and she asks for his help, we see his struggles as he decides whether to tell of his experience with her back then, or not, and the effect it might have on his career if he does.

The last time period is another two decades later, when a journalist doing a story about famous people who have fallen out of the public gaze, asks for an interview. This interview is the frame for the story, as he tells the reporter about what happened earlier and why he is where he is now. 

I found this an interesting tale from an ethical point of view. What the woman was asking him was to tell the truth about his experience during the war, but because of other things the woman had done, she was not looked on favourably, and this stigma would have possible effects on how people viewed him, although again, he would be merely telling the truth about his own experience. It brings to light the way that public perception, emotions around trauma, and how the past influences the present all have ripples beyond the immediate situation.