Release Date: August 13th 2020
Publisher: Canongate Books
Pages: 295
Find it on: Goodreads. BookDepository. Waterstones.
Source: I bought a copy of this book online
Rating: 3.75/5 stars

Synopsis

Between life and death there is a library.

When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?

Review

The Midnight Library is the latest release from How to Stop Time author Matt Haig. This story has a really fascinating premise: Nora Seed is a young woman who is unhappy in her life. When she decides she can’t bear it anymore she finds herself in the midnight library, a place where Nora can revisit her past and do things differently, changing the things that she regrets. The goal is to find a life she will be happy to live, but will she manage it before the time runs out?

This is a pretty quick read, but it does quite a lot in a small amount of pages. This story is a really fascinating one and it was really interesting to see Nora as she lived the lives she felt she had missed out on. Nora ends up trying on so many different lives and so many different occupations. There is quite a lot of character growth as Nora begins to understand more about her life and the people around her.

This is a really beautifully written book and I think it will touch a lot of people. I don’t know if it was because there has been so much buzz about this book but it didn’t quite live up to the hype for me. I still really enjoyed it, but I was expecting something a little bit more. I think I am absolutely in the minority with this one though because so many people have named this as one of their favourite books of 2020.

The Midnight Library is a well crafted story and one that definitely sticks with you long after you’ve finished reading. If you’ve read other books from Matt Haig I’d recommend giving this a go because you’re sure to love it.