The Midnight Library
Matt Haig, 2020
★ 3.97 from 2.7m ratings on Goodreads
A library between life and death, where every book on the shelf is one of the lives Nora could have chosen and didn't. A gentle, hopeful read with a witty, lyrical voice, moving between regret and memory at a reflective pace.
Feels like hope, longing and melancholy. About love, memory and death.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy introspective fantasy about choices and regret, told with warmth and a light touch. Some readers find the life-lesson messaging preachy and repetitive, and the emotional tone cold in places.
Why read it
It offers a thoughtful way to sit with regret and self-worth, and to imagine how small choices shape a life.
A page from the book
The gap between a mother's corrections and a stranger's kindness.
It was hard not to compare Mrs Elm to her mother, who treated Nora like a mistake in need of correction. For instance, when she was a baby her mother had been so worried Nora’s left ear stuck out more than her right that she’d used sticky tape to address the situation, then disguised it beneath a woollen bonnet. What readers say
Readers are divided: many find the story moving and uplifting, with introspective reflections on regret and self-worth; others find the life-lesson messaging preachy, repetitive, and emotionally cold.
Matt Haig.Haig's memoir Reasons to Stay Alive, about depression and recovery, made him a public advocate for mental health; The Midnight Library took its idea of parallel lives partly from that territory.
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Midnight Library for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy introspective fantasy about choices and regret, told with warmth and a light touch. Some readers find the life-lesson messaging preachy and repetitive, and the emotional tone cold in places.
- What is The Midnight Library like?
- A gentle, hopeful read with a witty, lyrical voice, moving between regret and memory at a reflective pace. Feels like hope, longing and melancholy. About love, memory and death.
- What should I read after The Midnight Library?
- If you liked The Midnight Library, try Normal People (Sally Rooney), One Day in December (Josie Silver) and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (V.E. Schwab).
A taste of the feed
What you do when the chance is pulling away without you.
No! No! Oh God, don’t you dare drive away from this stop! It’s Christmas! I want to yell, even as the bus pulls out into the traffic and gathers pace, and outside he is breathless standing in the road, watching us leave. I see defeat turn out the light in his eyes, and because it’s Christmas and because I’ve just fallen hopelessly in love with a stranger at a bus stop, I blow him a forlorn kiss and lay my forehead against the glass, watching him until he’s out of sight.
One Day in December · Josie Silver
The difference between being remembered and being known.
Last night, she told him hers was Jess. She lied, but only because she can’t say her real name—one of the vicious little details tucked like nettles in the grass. Hidden barbs designed to sting. What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind? She has learned to step between the thorny weeds, but there are some cuts that cannot be avoided—a memory, a photograph, a name.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue · V.E. Schwab
The desire to skip the shallow end of knowing someone.
I much prefer the idea of going all in. I’ve always wanted someone I could instantly click with and then just fucking drown in.
Layla · Colleen Hoover
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