Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
Matt Haig is the number one bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive, Notes on a Nervous Planet and six highly acclaimed novels for adults, including How to Stop Time, The Humans and The Radleys. His latest novel is The Midnight Library and the audiobook edition is read by Carey Mulligan. Haig also writes award-winning books for children, including A Boy Called Christmas, which is being made into a feature film with an all-star cast. He has sold more than a million books in the UK and his work has been translated into over forty languages.
My Review:
Well this is an easy review to write – READ IT or LISTEN TO IT now!
This is my second book by Matt Haig and after watching Sara Cox and her panel discussing The Midnight Library on BBC2’s new book club Between the Covers I immediately downloaded the audio version.
Firstly, Carey Mulligan is the narrator and honestly I could listen to her voice FOREVER – she is absolutely mesmerising and brought the story and Nora Seed to life with passion and empathy.
This is the story of Nora Seed, a young women who has been dealt a number of disappointments in her life, she’s alone, unemployed and has reached the decision to end her life. However moments after her suicide attempt she finds herself at The Midnight Library located in a world between life and death. Upon entering the library she is given the chance to change her life and relive the choices she made which filled her with regret.
In her “root” life, Nora made several decisions which have led her to regret her actions and now she is given the chance to do things differently, from being an Olympic swimmer to a world famous rockstar, marrying her boyfriend and opening a winery, Nora experiences so many different variations of “what if” and finds out whether these life changing decisions she made could result in a happy ending.
STUNNING, BEAUTIFUL, THOUGHT PROVOKING, AMUSING, SAD, WONDERFUL, CLEVER, HEART-BREAKING, HEART-WARMING AND 5 HUGE SHINY STARS FROM ME.
“Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices… Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?”
― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library