THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY was such a clever and engaging concept. The protagonist Nora’s journey was a walk through hopelessness to a chink of light, right through to a place of possibility. I was thoroughly engaged with this strange but wonderful story throughout. It’s a hard one to pin to a genre but I’d call it either magical realism or sci-fi realism…just made up a new one there!

The depiction of depression in this narrative was painfully real, identifiable to anyone who has felt this way or has been close to someone who has. There was no prettying up of the experience, it was raw and gritty. I felt for Nora, even though she wasn’t overly likeable at the beginning. Nora definitely grew on me along the way.

"Nora went through her social media. No messages, no comments, no new followers, no friend requests. She was antimatter, with added self pity."

No way am I going to spoil for you what the midnight library was but when it was revealed to me as a reader, I literally felt delighted at the concept. It was fresh and unique but also, I believed in the idea of it, for this story. The stories within the story were all about possiblity, the what ifs, the second guesses, the fantasies and the maybes; it was hard to look up from the page.

Did I have a favourite possiblity or character? Maybe but I think I always knew where it was going to end and that felt just right.

Matt Haig has told a wonderful story through fiction, maintaining his reign as the best mental health advocate out there. No patronising, no assuming, just real and kind. Highly recommended and I’m sure this book will have wide appeal.

"Howl, into the night,
Howl, until the light,
Howl, your turn to fight,
Howl, just make it right."

Thank you to Canongate Books for the early review copy.

Wow, what an incredible book, life-affirming, uplifting and powerful. It tackles head-on the serious and potentially life-destructing issues of anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, self-worth (or lack thereof), dead pets, climate change and “grass is always greener” mentality. It does this with gentle humour, philosophy and sheer brilliance. The Midnight Library is a place between life and death where each book provides the chance to try another life you could have lived if you had made different choices – a really simple way to explain the many-world interpretation of quantum physics and the universal wave function. It could have gone a bit groundhog day, but it didn’t - it was much, much better.
A male author writing from a female perspective doesn’t always feel genuine, but Matt Haig nailed it. The mental health areas are well-documented to be ones he has a deep knowledge of and his love of the environment and passion for libraries shines through. It is an ode to life.
Please just read it, my review could never do it justice.

Enormously thought-provoking at every page, it felt as if I was holding up a mirror to my own life. Carefully considering and questioning decisions, thoughts and feelings I've had myself. I loved Nora's journey and adored this book. With shades of Paulo Cohelo's The Alchemist, this truly will have me thinking long after I've finished it. Thank you to Netgalley and Canongate for the opportunity to read in advance of publication.

The Midnight Library is another fantastic and imaginative piece of writing from Matt Haig. What if you could go back and change a decision you made, but now regret? How would that impact on your life, and more importantly, your happiness? That is exactly the opportunity The Midnight Library offers Nora when she feels utterly despondent with her life.
Nora has the chance to pursue her successful swimming career, continue as lead singer/songwriter in a rock band and travel to Australia. Will any of these lives make her more fulfilled or does happiness and contentment come from somewhere else?
Not only is this an incredibly thought provoking story, it also offers a message of positivity and hope. Even if we regret some of our decisions, there is no guarantee we would be any happier. We all have the possibility within ourselves to create a change and bring about a more satisfying existence. A novel and self help book all in one. What a triumph!

I first got into the author's books with how to stop time. I enjoy books that are slightly sci fi without being full of space scenes, witches and magic, and other such things. The lovely thing about Matt's books are they're set in normal places, it's just 1 unusual thing that affects the main character but the rest of the world is normal which is the sci fi aspect. After coming to this story from how to stop time I had high expectations and boy did he manage to blow those out the water! This book is gripping and makes you really feel for the main character whilst still remaining something that's very much easy reading and enjoyable. I devoured this in 1 sitting and loved every minute of it. I don't want to give away what happens but I will say it's a very satisfying ending. I have recommended this book to my family and friends and am now anxiously awaiting the next novel from this author

A woman attempts suicide, and become trapped in the midnight library between life and death. She gets to experience the intimate amount of "could have been" lives, built from the regrets of her root life.

I LOVED this book, I lived it more and more each page I read. By the end, I had tears in my eyes. The message is one that I resonate so much with, as someone who has battled their mental health and experienced suicidal thoughts in the past, this book is a true masterpiece. A fiction book with all the inspiration of a non-fiction book.

Amazing, thank you for this fabulous story Matt! And thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read in, in return for my honest review. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Have you ever imagined how your life might have turned out if you had taken a different decision at some point? If you had taken a job you turned down? Said no to something you didn't really want to do but still did? Or simply allowed yourself to follow your dreams?
Matt Haig's The Midnight Library is about exactly this scenario; Nora Seed decides to end her life but instead ends up in the Midnight Library where, thanks to a fairy-godmother-like librarian, she is given the option to try out all the other lives she could have had. In doing so she reflect on what her regrets are and whether life really is so miserable killing herself is still what Nora thinks is best.
Although the opening may unsettle some readers this novel could work really well as a book group read or an inspiration for a creative writing group. Sensitively handled it could also work in helping to discuss mental health issues and taboos around suicide. An easy and quick read, The Midnight Library isn't as funny or insightful as some of Haig's earlier books but it is one that could spark interesting conversations and personal reflections.

[Reviewed for FOLIO by Zoe]

I read and enjoyed How to Stop Time from Matt Haig and I definitely loved The Midnight Library as well.
Nora is unemployed and just lost her cat. She also lost contact with her brother, which causes her to be depressed and commit suicide. But, she doesn't die and instead goes to The Midnight Library. There, she has the chance to choose different paths and live different lives. This was really interesting, and the fact that Matt Haig writes about mental health so well is amazing. I think it helps a lot of people.

I highly recommend it.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this early copy.

I really enjoyed How to Stop Time from Matt Haig and The Midnight Library did not disappoint either. It centres around Nora who is unemployed and grieving the loss of her cat, she is depressed, has lost contact with her brother and is suicidal. She is regretful of a lot in life and unfortunately attempts suicide, but rather than dying she goes to The Midnight Library where she gets a chance to live alternate lives and trial how her life would have ended up had she chosen other paths. This, again, was a really interesting concept. I thought it was well written and it kept me enthralled right up until the very end. I really do recommend this book.

Really good read. Would recommend to friends and family. I could sympathise with characters (important for any fiction novel!) and looked forward to picking it up and reading the next few chapters! Interesting plot line and a good ending. Will look out for more novels by the author. Thank you.

I finished this book a few days ago and I still don't know how I feel about it.

I love the concept and the first half of the book is full of really great things; it's intriguing and engaging and the MC is relatable.

Then it got a bit preachy and I started to lose interest.

It rallied at the end and gave a heart warming, if predictable, ending.

It was only after I had finished the book and was thinking about it in relation to my own life that it made me quite angry.

The regrets that the MC is dealing with are easy and they match the level of the regrets that I have in my life - which is why I so instantly engaged with her but I think it makes light of regret and the message it sends is very blinkered. There are people who have to live with regrets so huge and so monstrous that the chance to live a life where a different decision was made is a magical dream and I think that is ignored in this book. The message that you wouldn't be happy in another version of your life because you didn't earn that happiness and that you just need to make the best of the life you've got, it might be true but for a lot of people that's just depressing and I was looking for something a bit more hopeful.

Matt Haig's latest offering is a quirky, melancholy yet life affirming tale of regret for the roads not taken, a "what if" scenario that will speak in its own way to every one of us. After all we all wonder, don't we, what our lives might look like now if we'd turned left instead of right...if this thing had happened but not that thing...

Caught between life and death, main protagonist Nora finds herself in a vast library, the books here are stories of her life not lived. Guided by the librarian, who reflects a part of her past, Nora tries on some of those lives for size, a process that changes her understanding of her life in many many ways..

The Midnight Library is kind of "It's A Wonderful Life" for the modern age, written with the deep insight into certain aspects of the human condition that Matt Haig is known for, beautifully crafted and offering the reader many thought provoking idea's. It's a novel you will drift off with into thoughts of your own life decisions, whilst constantly being brought back to Nora and hers.

What does a happy ending look like? Well that's the thing. It can look like many many things.

The Midnight Library is beautiful. I loved every minute of it. Highly recommended

A really thought-provoking book, which I enjoyed immensely. I thought the characters were very well developed, and loved the writing style. This is my first time reading Matt Haig and I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of his work now. Really really good!

This is a life-affirming novel of the first order, as I knew it would be, written as it is by Matt Haig. Nora is at the lowest point she could be, not just contemplating giving up with life but starting the process …. until she wakes up in the Midnight Library. Here she can think about her life so far, what she regrets doing and what she regrets not doing, and go back to see where different choices would have taken her. All sorts of different paths to follow, some she immediately realises would be bad, one or two enjoyable enough but are they perfect? What makes this book so interesting is that in the enjoyable other lives there have been sacrifices, mostly in terms of what her choices have meant for other people’s lives, and there we have Nora’s dilemma.

I enjoyed this very much, it is a quick and absorbing read, thought-provoking for everyone I would guess. Fast-paced and with some interesting but not overly heavy philosophical references. Highly recommended.

A beautiful love letter to living.

Have you ever pondered how your life might have turned out if you’d taken one path instead of another? When Nora Seed, full of loneliness and regret, reaches breaking point and finds herself in The Midnight Library, she discovers every possibly life shelved and ready for her perusal. But what is ‘success’? What does a ‘happy life’ even look like?

Oh Matt Haig. I adore him. I have so much respect for anyone willing to be open and vulnerable about their mental health in the hope of reaching someone else but to do so with such an enormous platform and while subjected to endless criticism, trolling and abuse is just a testament to what an incredible mental health advocate he is.

This is my fifth of his books, my second of his adult fiction offerings and I love the way that his advocacy and personal experiences permeate every page. The balance between real darkness (that he doesn’t understate for the sake of comfort) and moments of pure, brilliant hope. In The Humans, mental health is presented as something that is just fundamentally human. In The Midnight Library, he brilliant captures the contradictory drone of depression that tells you simultaneously that you don’t matter, that nothing you do matters, you wouldn’t be missed but also that everything bad that ever happens is your fault.

This was The Truth Pixie for grown ups and I loved it. For impact, readability, message and just how it made me -feel-, it’s an immediate five stars. With a few hours to reflect, I will say that Matt Haig’s writing is a little on the simplistic side; I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, there -needs- to be accessible books dealing with mental health but if you are looking for something hard-hitting and literary, this isn’t it.

Another brilliant book from Matt Haig. I particularly love how his books are so engaging. Great read

I'd have been pretty surprised if I hadn't liked this being a Matt Haig book about a library of different lives.
From reading 'How to stay alive' we know that the author has had personal experience of mental illness and I think this comes across here in the story of a woman that has attempted suicide being given the option of undoing her regrets and joining the lives.
Its thoughtful and beautifully done. At times I thought some of the lives were too brief but that's a very minor criticism. The ending was moving.

I didn't know what to expect from this book before I read and I was very pleasantly surprised. It is a very whimsical story about changing the past or better put, learning what we can and cannot control. This is a novel everyone will love, with a story that stays with you forever.

Disclosure: I'd like to thank the publisher for my advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

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This book is intriguing, thought-provoking, and astonishingly well written. But for me the book's real strength was in the characters - all very real and believable (even those who appear only fleetingly). The main character, Nora Seed, is especially likeable and I was willing her to find a HAE.

A keeper. I have my hardback signed copy on order.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest reveiw.

I absolutely adored this book. It is a stay up all night, can’t put it down story of complete perfection. Following Nora and her visit to the Midnight Library which shows her all the variations of her life that could have happened, it’s just amazing. Beautifully written, life affirming and makes you look at life in a wholly different way.