6th July 2026

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Trigger warning for mentions of suicidal ideations, thoughts and attempt in the text.
This book is one that has stuck with me since I first read it several years ago. I found the concept fascinating, the writing easy to read and the messaging heartwarming and important.

Nora Seed is in a dark place. She loses her job, feels isolated from her social circle and her cat suddenly passes away. She attempts to take her own life and wakes up in the Midnight Library, a kind of limbo where each book on the endless shelves is a ‘what if’, a choice never made in Nora’s life. Given access to her ‘Book of Regrets’, which lists every regret she has ever had, she can choose any book and fall into that new life, at her current age with all her current memories and experiences, and if this new life is a fit, she will stay there and live happily in her chosen alternate reality, slowly gaining the memories and experience of the other Nora. If it isn’t, she will return to the library to make another choice.

This concept is something that grabbed me immediately. As a chronic overthinker, I am constantly plagued by the ‘what ifs’ in my own life. All the choices made that turn into regret and ‘if only’. I love the idea of being able to see what would have happened if I had chosen differently. For me, Nora’s longing for the ‘right’ version of herself felt intimately relatable.

Interestingly, other people I spoke to had wildly differing opinions and it became clear that this book was somewhat divisive. It seems I happened to be in the perfect mindset to enjoy it, and I certainly wasn’t alone, but those who weren’t sometimes found it to be boring, repetitive or too on the nose with the message. In some cases, I will agree that the way Nora finds herself back in the Midnight Library reads as a little silly or contrived; while of course a single choice can have unintended consequences, and while it was important for this book to emphasise that no version of Nora’s life could be perfect, some of the other lives had to be dismissed because someone she cared about had died in that version of reality, making it less of a feeling that the life didn’t fit and more a rejection of the life because of the grief that accompanied it.

Overall, I think The Midnight Library is definitely worth a read. It is relatively short and I found its narrative to be a powerful reflection on the nature of regret and the impact we have on those around us. Personally, it resonated deeply and gave me a new sense of hope that I can remind myself of in my own low moments.

Matt Haig recently released a companion piece, The Midnight Train, about an elderly bookshop owner as well, and I am definitely adding that to my TBR.