The Midnight Library - Matt Haig

 

Description

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 a place between life and death and so to get there you must be about to die and that is what Nora has chosen to do. Except she doesn't realise that she will end up in the library with Mrs Elm the librarian, who  helps her to choose and check out books that will enable her to live the lives she might have had.....

A little bit of Sliding Doors and Ken Grimwood's Replay, Nora gets to live alternative versions of her life. Each time she lived one I kept wanting it to be the one, for it to be the one that contained what she was looking for. I also got anxious that in each life she didn't know some of the people, what they did or she did and how was she going to be able to bluff her way through her life?

There are certainly lessons to be learned from this book. It's more than a novel, it's philosophical and self help too all to discover within it's pages. I did end up in tears at the the very end and so really have to give this book five out of five stars. 

My thanks to borrowbox and my library for the loan of the book to read.