Paula Hawkins (author)
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Paula Hawkins (born 26 August 1972) is a British author best known for her top-selling
psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...
novel '' The Girl on the Train'' (2015), which deals with themes of domestic violence, alcohol, and drug abuse. The novel was adapted into a film starring
Emily Blunt Emily Olivia Laura Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Emily Blunt, several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition t ...
in 2016. Hawkins' second thriller novel, '' Into the Water'', was released in 2017.


Life and career

Hawkins was born and raised in
Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...
,
Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
(known at the time as Salisbury,
Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...
), the daughter of Anthony "Tony" Hawkins and his wife Glynne. Her father was an economics professor and financial journalist. Before moving to London in 1989 aged 17, Hawkins attended Arundel School, Harare, Zimbabwe then studied for her
A-Levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...
at Collingham College, an independent college in
Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
, West London.Runaway success: Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train. Portraits by Pal Hansen
''
Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
''
Hawkins read
philosophy, politics and economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...
at
Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...
,
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
. She worked as a journalist for ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', reporting on business. She then worked for a number of publications on a freelance basis, and wrote a financial-advice book for women, ''The Money Goddess''. Around 2009, Hawkins began to write romantic comedy fiction under the name Amy Silver, writing four novels including ''Confessions of a Reluctant Recessionista''. She did not achieve a commercial breakthrough until she challenged herself to write a darker, more serious story. Her best-selling novel '' The Girl on the Train'' (2015) is a complex thriller, with themes of domestic violence, alcohol, and drug abuse. The novel took her six months, writing full-time, to complete, at a time when she was in a difficult financial situation and had to borrow from her father. The novel was adapted into a
film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
in 2016. In November 2016, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women. Paula's second thriller ''Into The Water'' was published in May 2017 and went on to become a ''Sunday Times'' and ''NYT'' bestseller. Her novel ''A Slow Fire Burning'' was published on 31 August 2021.


Bibliography

* ''The Money Goddess: The Complete Financial Makeover'' (2006) (Paula Hawkins) * ''Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School'' (2001) (with co-author Grace Llewellyn) (ISBN 978-0-471-34960-0) * ''Confessions of a Reluctant Recessionista'' (2009) (Amy Silver) * ''All I Want for Christmas'' (2010) (Amy Silver) * ''One Minute to Midnight'' (2011) (Amy Silver) * ''The Reunion'' (2013) (Amy Silver) * '' The Girl on the Train'' (2015) (Paula Hawkins) by Paula Hawkins * '' Into the Water'' (2017) (Paula Hawkins) * ''A Slow Fire Burning'' (2021) (Paula Hawkins) * ''Blind Spot'' (2022) (Paula Hawkins) * ''The Blue Hour'' (2024) (Paula Hawkins)


References


External links

*
BBC Meet the Author: Paula Hawkins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Paula 1972 births Living people British women novelists Alumni of Arundel School Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Writers from Harare 21st-century British women writers 21st-century British novelists Writers from London Zimbabwean emigrants to the United Kingdom White Zimbabwean people