Cover of The Midnight Library

The Midnight Library

  • 2020 first published
  • 304 pages
  • ★ 4.0 (86 ratings)
  • 27 editions

The Midnight Library is a 2020 time-travel fiction novel by Matt Haig. The story is set in Bedford, England. Characters include Nora Seed. Readers will find themes of Magical Realism, Mental Health, Adult and future life.

Open Library readers give it an average of 4.0 out of 5 from 86 ratings, and 2,083 more have it on their want-to-read list. It has been published in 27 editions across 8 languages. It appeared on the New York Times Combined Print And E-Book Fiction bestseller list in 2020.

It runs to roughly 304 pages — 5–6 hours of reading at an average pace.

About The Midnight Library

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 see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?” A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time. Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
Description from Open Library

Awards & lists

  • 📰New York Times bestseller list — Combined Print And E-Book Fiction, 2020
  • 📰New York Times bestseller list — Trade Fiction Paperback, 2023

Themes, setting & tropes

Genres

Setting

  • Bedford, England

Characters

  • Nora Seed

Subjects

  • Fantasy
  • Contemporary
  • Magical Realism
  • Science Fiction
  • Mental Health
  • Adult
  • Science fiction
  • Future life
  • Regret
  • Choice, Psychology
  • Libraries
  • Decision making
  • Vie future
  • Romans, nouvelles
  • Choix, Psychologie
  • Bibliothèques

Quick answers

Who wrote The Midnight Library?

The Midnight Library was written by Matt Haig and first published in 2020.

What genre is The Midnight Library?

It is usually shelved as Time Travel.

How long is The Midnight Library?

The median edition has 304 pages, about 5–6 hours of reading at 250 words per minute.

What books are similar to The Midnight Library?

Readers who like it often enjoy One Last Stop, Dragonflight and Hollow City.

More by Matt Haig

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