At once a series of crystal clear snapshots of history, and the tale of an ageless man trapped in an impossibly long life without the woman he loved or the daughter he lost. Tom is a history teacher. He is also cursed/blessed with anageria, a condition that slows his aging process to one year for every fifteen lived. Far from being the life of wealth and freedom we might imagine, he needs to change his identity every eight years to prevent anyone asking questions. A society 'helps' him in exchange for certain services, but more than that I cannot say for fear of spoiling this big hearted book about life and living that everyone should read.

How To Stop Time caught my imagination right from the start and I read it quite quickly, enjoying the trips through time. Tom’s condition is called ‘anageria’, in which, whilst he is actually ageing very slowly, he doesn’t appear to be getting any older. It’s the opposite of ‘progeria’ that causes a child’s body to age very quickly. It causes him problems, particularly in his youth in the late 16th century (he was born in 1581) when people suspected his mother of witchcraft. In more modern times the danger comes from scientists (the ‘new witch finders’) and their experiments to discover the nature and causes of anageria.

Tom tells his life story in flashbacks, switching back and forth in time between the present day and the past. His life is by no means uneventful, meeting amongst others Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, Captain Cook, and Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. As a young man in Elizabethan England he fell in love with Rose and they had a daughter, Marion, who has the same genetic anomaly. He left his family to keep them safe and lost touch with Marion. It’s a fascinating book that succeeded in bringing the past to life and transporting me back in time.

How To Stop Time is not just a trip through time because overarching Tom’s story is that of the Albatross Society, whose members have the same condition as Tom, headed by the rather frightening figure of Hendrich. The conditions of belonging to the Society are that every eight years members have to carry out assignments and in return Hendrich helps them to change the identity and thus keeps them safe over the centuries. Tom, who by now just wants to live as normal a life as possible, has become reluctant to carry out the assignments but he carries on as Hendrich says he is close to finding Tom’s daughter, Marion.

It examines the nature of time, the fact that life is continuous and ever-changing, but emphasising that in reality you can only live in the present. Without being in any way moralistic, it demonstrates that life should be lived to the full each day.

As a lover of Matt Haig's book The Humans, I was very excited to get my hands on a copy of this. I already knew I would enjoy the writing style, but I did not expect to love the story as much as I wound up doing.
How To Stop Time is the story of Tom Hazard, an unusual man, with an incredible tale to tell. To put it simply, Tom has lived many lives, and his experiences in each are wound together to create a remarkable tale. Born in Elizabethan England, he notices that once puberty hits he seems to stop aging, and in an era where magic and witchcraft are widely held beliefs, it is not long before his strange condition begins to draw attention. Forced to flee, he sets out on a path that will take him through the ages, and across continents, encountering several famous faces along the way, and will also result in the single greatest sorrow of all his lives, when he is forced to abandon his wife and daughter for their safety. Although he encounters others who may be like him along the way, its not until the late 19th century that he finds a whole network, who will help him to survive, but at a cost.
Moving from the present day to the distant past and back again, the book flows ceaselessly and draws the reader along for the ride. While there may be a certain element of Forrest Gump style gimmickry in having Tom meet several famous historical characters, this really is not the focus of the story. Instead the real heart of the book lies in Tom's relationship with his daughter, his love and fear for her, and his ceaseless attempts to find her once it becomes clear that she shares his condition.
A wonderful book, and I thoroughly recommend it.

This started out with a really pleasant tone, though there was a lot of 'telling'. Sometimes that can fit the story, putting background into context. It is not about time travel, as I presumed, but about a man who has a 'condition' that makes him very long lived, the opposite of the premature aging diseases we've all heard of.

Part of the story is about his quest to find his daughter who shares the condition, but he has much to learn from others of his kind. The story unfolds slowly in the first few chapters and blossoms into questions of the meaning of life and the importance of pleasures and especially of the power of music to move the soul.

I found myself captivated by the journey through time, seeing historic periods through Tom's eyes. He was a likeable character, though rather sad and world weary. The descriptions of what it was like to live through various times were believable and I enjoyed reading it very much.

A shock twist near the end didn't have quite the impact on me that I think was intended. I felt it was a little rushed and there was insufficient explanation of motivation. Apart from that, the story gave me a lot of enjoyment and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone with any interest in history at all.

Tom Hazzard is old, really old. But he looks to be in his early forties, and has looked like that for centuries, as he has a condition which stops him aging. Along the way he has lost people he loved, and now just wants a normal life. Does he get one?

This is a very fast=moving read, although I found the "present day" chapters more enjoyable, as Tom learns how to "go with the flow" of his unusual condition. A good summer read.

Owing to a rare condition, known as Anageria, Tom Hazard ages very slowly indeed. Born over 400 years ago he still looks around 41 years old. He still ages, just extremely slowly. He is benefitted by a very strong immune system, but eventually age related illness will occur as in any person.
Living for such a long time is deemed inherent with danger and so needs to be kept secret. This means travelling the globe, never staying anywhere longer than 8 years and changing your identity periodically so that no one could possibly be aware of you. It means also that you cannot love, ‘You cannot lay down the anchor.’ Ultimately you cannot lead an ordinary life, which is something Tom dearly craves, despite it bringing no guarantee of happiness. And so he returns to London in modern day times to work as a history teacher, having witnessed most things first hand!
Tom reflects upon the use of social media and the arrogance of certainty, the extent of ignorance, welcomed displays of compassion and the evolution of the use of language. Things in his current life send him back to memories in time and he recounts stories and events that resonate with the present. His personal accounts are very engaging and he convincingly describes things in such a way that you do believe, in these times he did live. From back when suspicions of witchcraft lead to innocent people’s death, to Shakespearian London, Paris and further, through a colourful life you learn more about the thoroughly interesting Tom and his quest to reunite with his daughter Marion.
Such as the book is described, it is a bittersweet story about finding yourself, the certainty of change and really learning to know how to live amidst this. Longevity makes life is no less confusing. It is stunningly observational and quipped with short and profound lines that resonate beyond the pages. Easy to read, intriguingly different, with a pleasant after burn. This is an exceptional blended piece of absorbing literary fiction, which Cumberbatch will soon be portraying in the film version.

A future classic - thoughtful and rather beautiful look at youth, life and the need to connect

In a cocktail of Highlander and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, Haig's latest is a well-crafted science fiction-based tale of a man ageing slowly.

So slowly, he's been alive for centuries and still looks to be in his prime. Tom Hazard (not quite his real name) has lived through wars, through witch trials, through technological change.

There follows a look back at Tom's long life, his love for the long dead love-of-his-life, his thoughts of the changes to humanity. Tom has been everywhere, seen so much, but has a lonely life without love or family in it. Over time, he has found that there are others like him, that age at a vastly reduced rate.

Such an intriguing concept - to live beyond the normal scope of the human life span - for one person to live alongside William Shakespeare, Captain Cook and into the age of the Internet. How many people can say they've never wanted a longer life?

We vacillate between Tom's history - his story of childhood and discovering his ageing slowing, what this means for him in the fifteenth century - and his life today, working as a teacher, and searching for others around the world with his condition.

Like Claire North's 'Harry August', there is a secret society in Tom's world, one made up of the 'albatrosses' that live long lives among the everyday 'mayflies' of mankind. This hasn't been a problem until now, as Tom finds his defences broken down after centuries of interacting without emotion, when he feels an attraction towards a fellow teacher, and he may not be able to fulfil the role his society asks of him.

It's a story that binds you up straightaway. Tom is a part of history whilst being outside of it and a contemporary man. His perspective is refreshing and wryly funny, yet wise. I love the references Haig fits in:

"two teenagers lean against the wall, staring down at their phones as devoutly as old priests with prayer books"

"the first technology to lead to fake news wasn't the internet, it was the printing press"

The modern-day references are current and when tempered with historical context, very clever. And quotable.

Matt Haig impressed with 'The Humans', another sci-fi-esque story that discussed the nature of humanity. He has grown since then and constructed a clever, moving, exciting and classic-feeling story here that I think has the potential to stand the test of time itself.

Not many books offer quotes that the reader can cling to, that show truth. 'How to Stop Time' does just that, and is utterly memorable.

How about this for a line:
"you cannot know the future... you have to stop flicking ahead and just concentrate on the page you are on"

"whenever I see someone reading a book, especially if it is someone I don't expect, I feel civilisation has become a little safer"

Inspiring stuff. Wonderful book, great creation in Tom. Thoroughly recommend.

With thanks to Netgalley for the advance e-copy.

This is a thought-provoking book. The author takes you into various parts of Tom's life, forward and back, to the events that concern him most, to the background to his thoughts as he tracks his way around present-day London.  Tom's life being incredibly long, that takes us back to  the middle ages to meet his mother. Because Tom seems not to grow older, they convict her for witchcraft.  The memory of that event is something that haunts Tom, and I think the author does an excellent job of creating this fractured personality that has seen so much grief and sorrow, endured so much hardship.

The incidents or snapshots that we return to examine in Tom's past take us skipping through what I always enjoyed about history - the part about how people lived: the bawdiness of the original Globe Theatre, the horrific plight of factory workers; the stench of the tanneries beside the Thames, which was clogged with sewage right up until Victorian times, when the Great Stink finally forced Parliament to act, and got Bazalgette to design a wondrous underground sewage system (Bazalgette doesn't get a mention, but Paris's sewers do).  

The writing is vivid, absorbing, and unsettling.  On many occasions I wondered about the mysterious Heinrich who seemed to help Tom to shift his life into a new area, to start again before people became suspicious.  Then it settles as Tom finds some sort of peace—only for his driving force to return and the pace (and place) changes again.  The narrative runs through the snapshots, tying them together so I never got lost—or lost interest.  It is masterfully done.

It's a book that warrants time spent on it - time to read, time to reflect.  Whenever I paused, I was thinking about it; I was eager to get back to it. The story is not really time-travel, but it feels a bit that way. I think I marked it as historical fiction and scifi, although I see some have shelved it as fantasy and some as magical realism.  Whatever it is, it's engrossing.

It reminded me of Time Enough to Love, once one of my favourite scifi books. (It was the 70s and I wasn't old enough to care about the misogyny.) How to Stop Time also has some connection with The Time Traveller's Wife. And most especially, it reminded me of the sadness of losing beloved pets, whose lifespans are so much shorter than ours.  It came with a jolt to realise that the timespan Mr Haig has chosen for his hero - one year to fifteen of the 'normal' humans around him, is almost identical to the accepted ratio for my companion animals.  It put it all very painfully into context.  Yet it also brought some sort of healing, too.

Thought-provoking and involving.  How to Stop Time is a lively candidate for my book of the year. Read it.

What a refreshing different premise. A faction that's entertaining and informative. A history lesson by someone who should know!. Thought provoking,it raises the question -do we really want to live forever? A touching, heart-rending read.

How to Stop Time, is one of those books that you get to the end and then sit back trying to take in just what you have read. This is a powerful novel about life, and living. Two very different things.

The book is very touching, and you can’t help but feel for Tom, a man who may have been alive for many years but one who can’t live a normal life. Imagine never being able to get close to anyone, never being able to tell anyone about yourself, and then every eight years you have to become someone else and move far away to start all over again.

The book makes you think about your own life, the actions that you take, and the choices that you make. Life is a learning curve, and even Tom is still learning.

The story goes back and forth in time, as you travel with Tom through different periods of his life. You get to witness history thorough the eyes of the man who has lived it. You also get to see the mistakes that people have made, over and over again. Sometimes the past isn’t so different from the present.

There is an honesty in Matt Haig’s words. A rawness that touches you, and whilst giving you a heart-warming feeling, they can also send shivers down your spine. The way that he looks at life, and sees not only the good, but the horrors that are created is unique.

This is a book about not taking yourself, or anyone else for granted. It’s about accepting, and understanding that life is precious, and we are the chosen few to experience it.

Just to emphasis how good this book is, it hasn’t even been released yet, but the film rights have already been bought and Benedict Cumberbatch has signed up to play Tom. I couldn’t think of anyone more perfect to be able to fulfil the role.

This is such a different read ,how would you feel if you did not age and lived for centuries? It must be good and bad as the only rule is you must'nt fall in love .Tom was born in 1581 and has only loved once which broke his heart .This is a truly remarkable book beautifully written and a brilliant story proving that no matter how long we live we need to live for the now.

I like the premise of this book and I start of quite enjoying it but I'm finding it a slow burner and am not really eager to pick it up again. It isn't awful but it isn't holding my attention. The main character, Tom, just isn't interesting enough, despite being over 400 years old. I'm not sympathetic to him and don't feel like I've got to know him yes, s quarter of the way in. I'm afraid I'm going to give up on this one.

Superb! Breathtaking story about the Albas, those who don't age at the same rate as the rest of us - the mayflies. Following Tom through time and musing on the way we fear the passage of time this is a wonderful read. Highly recommended.

I found this book very enjoyable making it quick and easy to read. Matt Haig has an excellent knack to character building so I really felt for Tom stuck in his own personal purgatory of undying love and grief. Matt’s nod to up-to-the-minute culture juxtaposed perfectly with Elizabethan England. I was slightly irritated that he found himself almost serendipitously placed at many points throughout his (exceedingly long) life to overlap with such prestigious characters, but realised that therein lay the power and facility of Hendrich. It’ll no doubt be a bestseller and perfect for screen adaptation.

This was a great book. I expected nothing else from Mr. Haig but as his non fiction work has always moved me more than his fiction, I was surprised to love this tender story about the fragility of humanity and the passing of time.

It had a bit of a slow start for me and the outbursts of descriptive clichés and the slightly predictable ending did burst the bubble a bit, but in the end it didn’t matter so much.

Because the story took hold and became a page turner that I could not let down. The journey through history swept me along and for being an average size of a book it felt like it lasted for a really long time, which is kind of funny since its all about the passing of time.

All in all a solid and touching read with the conclusion that living in the present is the only way to live.

An engaging & inventive novel which juggles multiple timelines & plot strands effectively & creates a very likeable & believable hero in Tom. I can't think of anything else I've read like it & will be recommending it widely.

I simply adored this book. I was a little worried that it might be time-travelly, a bit scifi, but its not. Tom Hazard, to give him one of his names, has a condition that means his body only ages by 1 year for every 15 years of being alive, a condition that started in puberty and he is not the only one blessed or afflicted. It means that when we meet him today he has been alive for over 400 years but has aged to only a forty-something. The only time travelling we do is through his memories as he relates episodes from his life including meeting Shakespeare, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, falling in love and having a child and accompanying Captain Cook on a voyage of discovery. It is an amazing life in which his mother was drowned as a witch, he plays piano in Harry's Bar and now teaches history in an inner-London comprehensive. But there are great dangers and shadowy characters and difficult questions and Tom realizes that in the end only love is the answer. Great story, amazing characters, lots to think about but so readable.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a playful fantasy that's grounded in a very profound narrative about the meaning of life.

The book is founded on a fantastic premise - that some people age slower and can live for hundreds of years - but is delivered with such practicality that you truly believe the events could be fact. Haig's uses the premise to explore his favourite periods in history and literature (Shakespearean England and F Scott Fitzgerald-occupied 1920s Paris) and provides some of the book's most entertaining and intriguing chapters.

There's also a serious narrative that underpins the book, which I imagine has been informed substantially by Haig's experiences of ill health. Albas - characters with the unusual ageing genes - search for meaning, belonging and connection in a lifetime in which love is found and lost more regularly than normal.

Overall, I found the book to be a well-written, entertaining story that left me feeling uplifted and ready to appreciate the smaller things in life.

I loved the idea of this book and for a while it had me gripped but then the conincidences of who Tom met started to drive me mad and the ending left me a little cold. Lots to talk about however and a book that isn't universally loved makes the best book group choice

I had high hopes for Matt Haig’s latest novel after being impressed with his honest eloquence and heart in Reasons To Stay Alive and hearing good things about the Humans. The premise in intriguing if not entirely original. Tom Hazard is old. 439 years old to be precise. Born in the 16th century with a condition called anageria which causes the body to age at about 1/15th of the rate of average humans. He has live through Elizabeth I’s Golden Age, the Age of Discovery, the Industrial Revolution - right into the 21st century and the novel centres on the isolation and fatigue caused by long, lonely years. During this time he has met several men and women with the same condition and even joined a society - the Albatross Society - which helps these individuals start new lives when their slow aging draws notice. On the fringes are rumours of a Berlin Institute on the hunt for Albas on whom to experiment…

As we join the story Hazard comes to the end of one of his designated eight-year periods in a single place and life. He chooses to return to London as a history teacher in the Tower Hamlets, a noble if misguided choice when he is struggling to keep a lid on centuries of memory. As the story progresses we follow Hazard as he begins his most recent period in London when familiar landmarks (or the lack thereof) have a tendency to spark flashbacks of his earlier years and allow Haig to build the story of his long life. Much of Hazard’s present life is spent ruminating on earlier years. Unfortunately, here is where it simply falls flat. Aside from his mother and his sixteenth-century wife (with whom he has a daughter) Hazard makes virtually no meaningful connections with other people. Rather than focusing on the pleasure and pain of real friendships, loves and losses that are such a vital part of any human life most of Hazards flashbacks revolve around tangential encounters with historical figures; Shakespeare, Captain Cook, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Apart from being star-struck and receiving some personal advantages through these acquaintances there is no emotional connection with any of them. When a real connection does emerge in the form of a new twenty-first century romance that utterly fails to convince, paper-thin and seemingly instantaneous.

The lack of emotional depth and wobbly historicity makes a good part of the novel drag. The structure is repetitive with Hazard giving brief (and oddly random) lessons to his featureless class which seem little more than a convenient and somewhat clunky device to segue into a related flashback to an earlier period of his life. When the action finally does pick up in the last few pages it is terribly predictable and the revelations about two central (and yet barely elaborated) characters fail to surprise or engage. I was left feeling utterly unmoved despite Haig’s compassionate and often prescient observations on history and humanity, there simply wasn’t enough substance to the rest of the story to imbue to instil these with the emotional resonance they deserve. I would really rather read Haig’s Twitter feed.