Author: Matt Haig
Title: The Midnight Library
Narrator: Carey Mulligan
Other Books Read by the Same Author: How to Stop Time
Publication Info: Penguin Audio, 2020 
Summary/Review:
“In the Midnight Library you can’t take the same book out twice.”
Feeling useless and unloved, Nora Seed attempts to end her life through an overdose. Instead she finds herself in a library managed by Mrs. Elm, a school librarian who was kind to Nora in her youth. Mrs. Elm explains that all the books are stories of Nora’s life that diverge from different decisions she made during her life. Nora is allowed to experience her life in different universes until she finds one where she is content.
Nora enters a life where she actually married her ex-fiance Dan and they run a country pub, a life where she joined her friend Izzy in Australia, a life in which she remained committed to competitive swimming and became an Olympic medalist, and a life where she followed her dream of becoming a glaciologist, among several others. The rules of the library are a bit unfair as Nora is plopped into situations with no memory of the life that got her to this point or even the people she’s supposed to know. Even in the most satisfying life, Nora notices negative changes in the lives of people she knows (shades of It’s a Wonderful Life) and feels like an imposter.
The ending of this novel is quite predictable, but nevertheless it is an inspiring story of embracing the life one has, and a great take on the multiverse theory.
Recommended books:
- Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore
- Every Day by David Levithan
- 11/22/63 by Stephen King
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Rating: ****
Panorama of the Mountains 
You have a unique ability to make even the toughest days brighter.
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