The Midnight Library

Written by Matt Haig (2020)

“It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.”
This oft-repeated line from Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library captures the quiet, unpretentious grace of the novel. Poignant without ever feeling preachy, sweet without tipping into sentimentality, it tells the story of Nora Seed—a deeply depressed woman who decides to end her life after what she sees as a series of failures. But between life and death lies the Midnight Library: a liminal space where infinite books contain infinite versions of Nora, each representing a life she could have lived.

From here, she explores roads not taken—versions of herself who became a rock star, a glaciologist, a wife, a mother. The novel balances its high-concept multiverse premise with deeply human questions: If she chooses to remain in one of these other lives, does she erase the version of Nora already living it? Is that spiritual suicide, or a rebirth? How do we reconcile with the past, and are we allowed—ethically, emotionally—to leave it behind in favor of something better?

Haig writes with clarity and compassion, crafting a story that is both accessible and thought-provoking, even if the conceit itself is fairly well-trodden. The Midnight Library is ultimately a moving meditation on regret, potential, and the power of perspective—a reminder that the lives we imagine are not as far away as we think.

Rating: A-