Description

‘Nobody writes trains like Monisha Rajesh’ IRVINE WELSH
‘Full of the stuff of life’ SPECTATOR
‘Travel writing heaven’ WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
‘Incredibly inspiring’ SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR

From the award-winning author of Around the World in 80 Trains, a romantic and hugely entertaining tour of some of the world’s most spectacular night trains.

The magic of the night train: headlamps ablaze, passengers boarding after sunset and arriving in new cities at dawn.

For Monisha Rajesh, the unique thrill of sleeper trains inspired a new journey around the world. From sipping pisco sours aboard the Andean Explorer to retracing the original route of the Orient Express, Moonlight Express takes us on an unexpected, at times hilarious adventure – and drops us back at the platform before sunrise.

SHORTLISTED FOR TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE 2026 EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARDS
WINNER OF THE EASTERN EYE AWARD FOR NON-FICTION
SHORTLISTED FOR TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE 2026 INSPIRE GLOBAL MEDIA AWARDS
A FINANCIAL TIMES READERS BOOK OF THE YEAR

Publisher Review

The night train has cast its romantic spell across continents and cultures – and the pages of Moonlight Express . . . Each night train is a world of its own — Aley Adil * TLS * With wit and flair, Monisha Rajesh takes readers aboard night trains across Europe, India, South Africa, the USA, Canada and Peru . . . Rajesh is a sharp and perceptive writer with a keen eye for detail and context . . . Packed with evocative details and rich reflections — Shafik Meghji * Geographical Magazine * Full of the stuff of life — Christian Wolmar * Spectator * Monisha Rajesh is no stranger to the railway’s magic, having written about her journeys around India and circumnavigating the globe by train. Here, she takes night trains in Finland, Scotland, Austria, Turkey and Bulgaria, Peru and the US . . . She can write beautifully, describing a view or recalling a conversation — Jason Goodwin * Country Life * 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 * Rajesh’s adventures – involving multiple sleeper trains – are filled with literary wonderment, plot twists and unsavoury revelations . . . Rajesh is never didactic, weaving these revelations into her human encounters . . . Mesmerising prose tantalises readers to not only read one but also experience for themselves the routes that Rajesh has embarked on . . . Written beautifully as a travel journalist’s love letter to trains, her book is also an implicit argument for the kinds of social bonds that are maintained with “less efficient” means of transport. It is a book to savour — Shawn Hoo * Straits 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 Recently night trains have made a comeback . . . This revival is at the heart of Monisha Rajesh’s entertaining travelogue in which she describes eighteen journeys made by night train across four continents * The Week * Rajesh excels at capturing what night trains offer that day trains and planes can’t: time to breathe, space for unexpected encounters, and a sense of suspension. Her prose turns luminous in these pauses . . . Night trains become a way of thinking about how travel is changing . . . The strongest sections, however, are not about infrastructure but about people: the businessman who books a berth “for the thrill of the night train”, honeymooners disillusioned by flat pillows, and families who prefer a moving bedroom to airport stress . . . Rajesh’s writing reveals how the sleeper train has been reborn: not as a museum piece but as a model of slow, responsible travel, focusing more on the journey than the destination — Teja Lele * Tribune India * Takes readers across continents, pausing not only at grand landmarks . . . but also at train station bookstalls, quiet rivers that twist under moonlight . . . Her appetite for detail made me hungry, curious and often delighted . . . Her descriptions of the skies are especially poetic . . . Each page is a reminder that the view from a train window is never static . . . The book is also a gallery of people – co-travellers who become companions for a few miles or a few days . . . The writing blends history, culture, and politics with humour and intimacy . . . Reading Moonlight Express was an indulgence I didn’t want to rush . . . more than a travelogue: it is a confession, a celebration, a hymn to the railway and its endless promise. Moonlight Express left me nostalgic, restless and electrified. Closing the book, I realised I was suffering from what she herself calls “disembarkation sickness”, the ache of leaving behind a journey I never wanted to end — Sangeetha Vallat * eShe Magazine * Rajesh is a lovely writer, incredibly inspiring, and I was so smitten by her experiences and the descriptions she paints. A glorious way to travel — SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR 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’ A wonderful companion — Irvine Welsh on ‘Around India in 80 Trains’ Crackles and sparks with life like an exploding box of Diwali fireworks — William Dalrymple on ‘Around India in 80 Trains’ What makes the book is Rajesh’s wit, astute observations and willingness to try everything . . . She arrived at St Pancras, on time, tired and triumphant. Her riveting account of the odyssey leaves us feeling the same — THE TIMES on ‘Around the World in 80 Trains’ Rajesh is a rare rising star of the genre . . . She has a simple and easy style, she sees everything and listens to everyone, she’s funny when she wants to be and serious when she needs to be, and she keeps the whole thing barreling along like a wonderful dinner party conversation — DAILY MAIL on ‘Around the World in 80 Trains’ A triumph: a rollicking account, full of memorable encounters and laced with wit — THE WEEK on ‘Around the World in 80 Trains’ Rajesh offers us a never-ending series of Theroux-esque, quirky anecdotes . . . If you fancy learning about global travel in the relative slow lane, try boarding this carriage and staring out the window — GEOGRAPHICAL on ‘Around the World in 80 Trains’