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

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

She uses her journeys both to relate her immediate experiences through encounters with fellow travellers and to provide the context of the lines on which she travels. It is by no means all backpackers, train-spotters and oldies taking advantage of the same Interrail tickets they enjoyed in their youth. She is excellent at drawing out the reasons why people are travelling by train and most have a story to tell … Rajesh teases out many intriguing stories

Christian Wolmar, Spectator

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'