Paula Hawkins, who wrote bestselling 'The Girl on the Train,' will be at Southdale Public Library in Edina

"I certainly had those stories in my head," said Hawkins of Du Maurier, whose novels include "The Birds," "Rebecca" and "Jamaica Inn" (all of which became Alfred Hitchcock films). "I reread some of the stories when I was writing this, things like 'The Birds.' Everyone always thinks about the movie, but the story it comes from is really, really bleak and terrifying and feels very prescient about environmental change."

One point of kinship between Du Maurier and Hawkins — who will be at Southdale Public Library Oct. 29 for a reading and conversation — is the Gothic, moody setting of "Blue Hour." Like the storm-tossed waves in both "The Birds" and "Rebecca," "Blue Hour" owes its atmosphere to the sea. It's mostly set on a western Scottish island that's only connected to the mainland 12 hours a day because its causeway is underwater the rest of the time.

"I'd been thinking about the tidal island idea for a while," said Hawkins. "I went on a holiday to France years ago, and I was walking on the coast and there were these little tidal islands and there'd be just one little house on them. It did strike me there were storytelling possibilities there: the locked-room idea, and you can't get to it because of the tide."

"What kind of person would choose to live there, completely at the mercy of the tide and the weather?" asked Hawkins. "I'd been thinking I'd like to write something about an artist who did seem like someone who might like to cut themselves off from the world."

The two main characters — in fact, practically the only characters in the claustrophobic novel — are an eccentric named Vanessa, who may have created a sculpture that includes a human bone, and a former doctor named Grace, who cares for Vanessa. A gallerist who visits them has a difficult time imagining why they want to live in the middle of nowhere. It's an idea that may occur to readers, too.

"If you look at Vanessa, obviously she's attracted to this idea of freedom, this wild place where she can work," said Hawkins, who grew up in what's now Zimbabwe, went to school in England and calls Edinburgh, Scotland, home. "But I think you're right that she become shaped by it, too. Someone who lives a solitary life — that will start to inform how they behave, how they relate to each other, whether they correctly read signals from other people."

Understanding island people comes into play in "Blue Hour" when the gallerist, trying to figure out whose bone is in the sculpture, learns about some possible murders.

Hawkins is looking forward to chatting about "Blue Hour" with readers, especially because her last book, "The Blind Spot," came out during the pandemic, when the only way to "meet" was via Zoom.

"That was soul-destroying, but actually meeting readers? That's the fun stuff," said Hawkins. "The travel and talking to the press — sorry, journalist — is the hard stuff. But I'm frequently surprised by readers. People do so often see things in your novels that you weren't thinking of when you were writing. That's the great thing. They'll say, 'I love the way you did X,' and I'll say, 'Oh, did I?'"

One thing she and readers may talk about is the even-grimmer-than-the-book 2016 movie version of " The Girl on the Train ," which starred Emily Blunt and was expected to be a blockbuster. It wasn't. Critics and audiences agreed it didn't do justice to the book about a troubled woman who believes she witnesses a crime while zooming past the supposed crime scene on a train. Hawkins, perhaps surprisingly, is a fan.

"I thought the performances were great, particularly Emily," said Hawkins. "There was a lot of disquiet about the fact that it was moved [from England] to the United States. I didn't mind that very much. I didn't think that was the most important thing. I thought they stayed true to the darkness at the heart of the book."

"I hope they find it thought-provoking and a little bit frightening," said Hawkins. "I don't expect people to come away from my novels with lessons. So, really, a bit scared, thrilled. That would be great."