# The Midnight Library *A 2020 speculative novel by Matt Haig.* > I did not read this novel for this note. It is in copyright. The facts below come from Wikipedia's articles on the novel and its author, the Goodreads Choice Awards page, the Penguin Random House retail page, a published Q&A with Haig, and the vault's two Alyssa Matesic video notes. The plot is Wikipedia's account and includes the ending. The book deals with suicide and depression. ## 1. Book facts | | | |---|---| | Title | *The Midnight Library* | | Author | Matt Haig | | Publisher | Viking (US); Canongate Books (UK) (Wikipedia) | | Published | 29 September 2020, US (Open Library); the UK hardcover rose to number one on the UK original-fiction chart in August 2020 (Wikipedia), so the UK edition came out earlier | | ISBN | 9780525559474 (Viking; Wikipedia and Open Library) | | Pages | 288 (Wikipedia and Open Library) versus 304 (the [Penguin Random House retail page](https://www.penguinrandomhouseretail.com/book/?isbn=9780525559474), probably another edition) | | Audiobook | Read by Carey Mulligan, Penguin Audio, about 8 h 45 min (Wikipedia) | | Genre | Speculative fiction, magical realism | | Adaptations | BBC Radio 4 dramatisation in ten episodes (December 2020); a film is in development with StudioCanal, Garth Davis directing and Florence Pugh starring (Wikipedia, as of its last edit) | | Awards | Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction, 2020 (winner); British Book Awards Fiction Book of the Year, 2021 (shortlist) | **Where it came up.** - [It's Boring, But It's How You Write a Bestseller](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CktFySXS9Sk&t=341s), Alyssa Matesic, 5:41: used in a segment on Haig's revision lessons; she says the book has more than 2 million Goodreads ratings. Vault note: [[Video Summaries/Alyssa Matesic/It’s Boring, But It’s How You Write a Bestseller]]. - [Everyone Loves This Genre. But No One Is Writing It](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxU0E1sh1XI&t=475s), Alyssa Matesic, 7:55: her example of "upmarket" fiction, with a hook about a woman in a library between life and death. Vault note: [[Video Summaries/Alyssa Matesic/Everyone Loves This Genre. But No One Is Writing It]]. ## 2. Book resources - [Wikipedia: The Midnight Library](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Midnight_Library); [Matt Haig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Haig) - [Goodreads Choice Awards 2020: Best Fiction](https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-fiction-books-2020) - [The Guardian review](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/27/the-midnight-library-by-matt-haig-review-a-celebration-of-lifes-possibilities); [NPR review](https://www.npr.org/2020/10/03/918868242/its-not-quite-dark-enough-in-the-midnight-library) (both pages opened; Wikipedia summarises them) - [Penguin Random House retail page](https://www.penguinrandomhouseretail.com/book/?isbn=9780525559474) **Where to get it (legal, free).** No legal free full text located; it is in copyright. Borrow it from a public library or buy it. I did not check library holdings or lending copies. ## 3. Author biography Matt Haig was born 3 July 1975 in Sheffield and grew up in Newark, Nottinghamshire. He studied English and History at the University of Hull. He writes fiction and non-fiction for adults and children, including *The Radleys* (2011), *The Humans* (2013), *How to Stop Time* (2017) and the non-fiction *Reasons to Stay Alive*, a Sunday Times number-one bestseller. Source: [Wikipedia: Matt Haig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Haig). ## 4. Author interviews and talks - [Matt Haig talks about his instant New York Times bestseller THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY…](https://leslielindsay.com/2020/10/28/the-midnight-library/), Leslie A. Lindsay's blog, 28 October 2020. Haig says he had long had an idea of a library between life and death and was fascinated by fantastical libraries such as Borges's Library of Babel (opening read). - [Q&A with Matt Haig on anxiety, panic, depression and writing as therapy](https://www.mindymcginnis.com/blog/matt-haig), Mindy McGinnis's blog (page opened; I did not read it closely). - The video notes cite David Perell's interviews with Haig; I did not locate or watch them. ## 5. Summary **Thesis.** Nora Seed, after a suicide attempt, finds a library between life and death where each book holds a different version of her life branching from a choice she regretted, and can try them in turn. Per Wikipedia, every life she tries turns out to carry its own loss, and she learns to value her own. **Outline (Wikipedia; spoilers).** The sources give no chapter list. - **Arrival.** Nora wakes in the Midnight Library, run by an echo of her school librarian, Mrs. Elm, and meets *The Book of Regrets*. - **The lives.** She tries several: staying with her ex-fiancé Dan, a rock career, an Olympic swimming career, an Arctic glaciologist, a philosophy lecturer, and a marriage to Ash with a daughter, Molly. Each has costs. - **Choice.** The library begins to collapse, which Mrs. Elm says shows Nora has chosen to live. She writes "I AM ALIVE" in the blank book of her root life. - **Return.** Nora wakes, recovers, repairs her relationship with her brother Joe and visits the real Mrs. Elm. **Key ideas.** Regret, the cost of every road not taken, and finding value in the life you have. Reviews summarised by Wikipedia call it comforting and accessible, with several (NPR, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly) finding it simplified or formulaic. ## 6. Fact-check Overall verdict: **supported**. The video's statements about the premise are accurate; the rating count and the claims about Haig's other novel could not be checked. | Claim | Verdict | Evidence | |---|---|---| | Published 2020 | Supported | Wikipedia; Open Library: 29 September 2020 (US) | | Premise: a woman in a library between life and death plays out lives she could have lived | Supported | Wikipedia plot | | It is "upmarket" fiction (Matesic) | Classification; opinion | Wikipedia calls it a speculative novel and the Goodreads page "literary and speculative fiction" | | More than 2 million Goodreads ratings (Matesic) | Unverified | The Goodreads page opened, but I could not extract the count | | Won the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction (2020) | Supported | [Goodreads page](https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-fiction-books-2020): winner with 72,828 votes, "by five votes" | | Haig cut about 40,000 words of an 80,000-word first draft of *The Humans* and added 55,000 | Unverified | From the video; the Perell interview was not located | | Page count | Discrepancy | 288 (Wikipedia, Open Library) versus 304 (PRH retail) | ## 7. Citations and references - [Wikipedia: The Midnight Library](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Midnight_Library); [Matt Haig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Haig) - [Goodreads Choice Awards 2020](https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-fiction-books-2020); [Penguin Random House retail](https://www.penguinrandomhouseretail.com/book/?isbn=9780525559474); [Open Library ISBN record](https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780525559474) - [Leslie A. Lindsay Q&A](https://leslielindsay.com/2020/10/28/the-midnight-library/); [Mindy McGinnis Q&A](https://www.mindymcginnis.com/blog/matt-haig) - Videos: [It's Boring, But It's How You Write a Bestseller](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CktFySXS9Sk); [Everyone Loves This Genre](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxU0E1sh1XI)