Published : August 13th 2020
Publisher : Canongate
Format : Kindle, Audio, Hardback, Paperback
Genre : Contemporary
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?
Thank you Canongate for this stunning and insightful read.
My Review
"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 seesaw things would be different if you had made other choices"
I loved this book.
As a book worm this would be such a fantastic way to choose a different life to lead, especially as all as your lives would be in bookworm neatly stacked and waiting for you to choose.
This is a story about Nora Seed. She is not happy in her current life, everything that could go wrong does go wrong. Her parents are dead, her brother doesn't talk to her, she walked away from her fiancee in the aftermath of losing her mum and she hates her job. With the help of anti depressants she is barely getting by until one day she gets a knock on the door and she is told that her cat has just died.
That is the last straw for Nora. She no longer wants suffer and decides her life just isn't worth living anymore, so she settle down with her pack of tablets and a glass of water, writes a farewell to her brother and takes the tablets.
But the next thing Nora realises is that she is standing in front of a large building that is called The Midnight Library, as she walks inside she sees her old school librarian who was always a rock for her when she was younger. Mrs Elm tells Nora that she is caught in the in-between. She has a chance to live a different life. In front of her are shelves and shelves full of books all with the same title Your Life.
Nora has an infinite amount of lives she can try until she finds one she truly wants to be in, if she doesn't like that life then she will come straight back to the library the minute she starts to feel disappointment.
Nora doesn't want to be alive and she makes that clear but Mrs Elm encourages her to try some of the choices in life that she didn't choose first time round.
What would life had been like if she had married her fiancee, Dan instead of walking away?
What if she had pursued her olympic swimming goal that her dad so wanted for her?
What if she hadn't walked out on the band she was in with her brother, causing that huge rift?
What if she had become a Glaciologist?
And what if she had gone to Australia with her best friend Izzy instead of allowing herself to be swallowed whole by her grief?
Nora tries lots of different lives but something always makes her feel disappointed in the end, until one doesn't. . .
Why I Loved It
AHHHHH I loved this story so much!
Nora is such a loveable character, I only ever wanted what was best for her and found myself encouraging her to either make a go of it or get disappointed quicker within the lives she was trying.
The authors writing draws you in totally and allows you to immerse yourself within Noras lives, her choices and all her slightly different personalities.
This one is highly recommended by me. I loved how this book ended and will be saving it on my shelf for a reread very soon.
Rating
★★★★★
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Meet the author
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.
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