Hello and welcome to Ask Penguin, the podcast all about books and the people who write and publish them.

I'm Rihanna Dillon and in each episode I have the pleasure of sitting down with authors and our penguin colleagues to hear all about their latest projects, their current reading obsessions, and what's inspiring them.

Plus, they'll be answering your questions and hopefully sending you away with a book

recommendation or two as well.

Joining me today is Global No. 1 best-selling author Paula Hawkins.

Paula's debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, became a worldwide phenomenon, selling over 23 million copies and inspiring a box office hit film starring Emily Blunt.

Her follow-up novels, Into the Water and a Slow Fire Burning, were also instant number one bestsellers.

In 2021, a slow-fire burning was nominated for Thriller of the Year

at the British Book Awards. The Blue Hour is her latest, masterful and deeply unsettling new novel,

exploring themes of loneliness, friendship and obsession. Set on a Scottish tidal island, ERIS is cut off from the mainland

for 12 hours each day. The island's only house once belonged to Vanessa, this beautiful, talented,

and occasionally difficult artist, whose notoriously unfaithful husband vanished 20 years before.

Now it's home to Grace, who's taken it upon

herself to guard the island's secrets. But when a human bone is discovered in one of Vanessa's

artworks, questions begin to surface, and Grace's precious isolation is disrupted by the arrival

of James Becker, curator of the foundation responsible for Vanessa's legacy.

Paula, welcome to Ask Penguin. It's really lovely to have you here for the first time.

Thank you so much for inviting me.

So the Blue Hour came out a year ago in hardback and it's just being released now in paperback.

So first of all, I just wanted to ask you,

did anything about readers' responses surprise you?

I mean, I know there has been a debate about how the book ended and I know not everyone,

...