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WORDS BY CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS PLATFORM SEVEN, BY LOUISE DOUGHTY THIS GRIPPING SUPERNATURAL NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF APPLE TREE YARD IS SET AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF PETERBOROUGH TRAIN STATION
nyone who frequently travels by train in this region will be all too familiar with the charms of Peterborough Railway Station.
Having to swiftly switch services or spend hours huddled on the platforms waiting for a connection is a regular part of the experience for an East-based rail-user – so it may come as a surprise to many of these travellers to learn that Platform Seven , the new novel from writer Louise Doughty (author of multiple bestsellers including smash-hit BBC adaptation Apple Tree Yard ) is set almost entirely at the somewhat unprepossessing transport hub. The book is narrated by Lisa Evans, a young woman in her thirties, who we meet on Platform Seven at 4am when she witnesses what appears to be a death by suicide – made all the more tragic by the swift revelation that Lisa died in the same spot, and is narrating the tale as a ghost. The opening scenes of the book were what initially came to Louise as the idea behind the entire story. “I knew immediately that Lisa was a ghost, and that she was trapped at the station,” Louise says, “and I knew that there would be a difficult relationship in her past, and that it would involve some sort of coercive control.” With the original idea firmly in her mind, Louise set about creating a world for her main character to inhabit – a challenge the writer rose to with relish. “The first thing you have to decide is: ‘what is your ghost capable of?’” she explains. “Are they a poltergeist? Can they move
station, but also those employed by the railway: the characters in uniform are often found centre stage in the book, both driving the narrative onwards and revealing so much of themselves in beautifully drawn vignettes. These sections are deeply affecting to read: we all people-watch at stations and imagine the lives of fellow passengers, yet it’s rarely the workers who feature in these daydreams – Platform Seven turns a well- deserved spotlight on to the hopes and
objects? Because if they can, then they can communicate with the outside world, and that raises all sorts of issues – so I decided straight away that my ghost was not going to be able to communicate in that way. I wanted her to be the omniscient narrator of the lives and loves of other people on the railway station – it’s a complicated narrative style that lives in other people’s heads as well.” Being omniscient gives Lisa access to the thoughts, feelings and emotions of people passing through the
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