Description
A LANDMARK OF GOLDEN-AGE SUSPENSE • Ethel Lina White’s finest novel, adapted into Alfred Hitchcock’s celebrated film classic.
On a crowded train speeding across Europe, young Iris Carr suddenly finds herself alone among strangers. Her only companion, the kindly Miss Froy, mysteriously disappears without a trace. When Iris raises the alarm, her fellow passengers insist the woman never existed. Is Iris losing her mind—or is she caught in a web of deception more dangerous than she can imagine? Trapped in a moving carriage with nowhere to run, she must uncover the truth before it is too late.
First published in 1936 as The Wheel Spins, Ethel Lina White’s novel is a masterclass in psychological suspense. It plays on themes of isolation, gaslighting, and the blurred line between sanity and paranoia. White’s taut plotting and atmospheric detail influenced later generations of thriller writers, while Hitchcock’s celebrated 1938 adaptation secured the story’s place in popular culture. Few moments capture the creeping horror more than Iris’s stunned realisation: “It was useless to argue. Miss Froy had vanished, and with her had gone all proof that she had ever existed.”
This Feel Classics edition brings White’s gripping novel back to readers with added context and support. Featuring a thoughtful introduction, explanatory notes, glossary, and a detailed chronology of her life and work, it is ideal for students, first-time readers, and literature enthusiasts alike.
A tense, unforgettable classic that still speaks to anyone who has ever questioned reality—and feared being silenced.
