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  • The Midnight Library

  • A Novel
  • Written by: Matt Haig
  • Narrated by: Carey Mulligan
  • Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (3,310 ratings)

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The Midnight Library

Written by: Matt Haig
Narrated by: Carey Mulligan
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Publisher's Summary

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?

©2020 Matt Haig (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Editorial Review

What if you could hit rewind and create an alternate life? The Midnight Library opens up that very possibility through the power and magic of books.

When she stumbles upon Mrs. Elm, the school librarian, Nora Seed has no idea of what she is about to find: an amazing new way to escape through reading. As she quickly learns, the books inside this library hold a magical power that allows her to go back and change her life. With books that teach her how to stop time and relive her past, Nora seeks to erase pain, suffering and regrets from her previous life. But, like everything, there is a price to pay for seeking perfection.

Matt Haig delights with this fantasy book full of life lessons, parallel universes and infinite possibilities. A New York Times best seller and one of the best books of its genre, The Midnight Library is full of wonder, mystery and danger. It is both a fantastic story and a cautionary tale of the problems that arise from seeking a perfect life. By following Nora as she tries on new lives— for example, living as a glaciologist—Haig carefully addresses serious issues of mental health and depression while still delivering a wondrous and uplifting tale about valuing one's own life.

This audiobook adaptation is narrated by Carey Mulligan. The renowned actor brings her professional expertise and dreamy British voice to the reading, adding perfectly to the poignant yet fantastic tone of the book. The audiobook was nominated for an Audie Award in 2020.

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What listeners say about The Midnight Library

Average Customer Ratings
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It will change your life perspective !

I think 2020 has been a rough year for a lot of us, and more than ever, a lot of us can really relate to Nora in the beginning of this book. You walk along side Nora every step of the way, and honestly, it kinda feels like you’re walking through a philosophical/spiritual awakening with her. When I started this book, I was in a really dark place, probably the most hopeless I’ve felt all my life. Matt Haig has so many powerful quotes in this book, that really reminds you of all the hope and opportunity that there truly is out there. It’s a great reminder that even when you think everything feels hopeless, there’s so many possibilities. I adored this book, and I can almost dare to say that it saved my life :)

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38 people found this helpful

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Like Nora

Perhaps that’s why I found it so easy to connect with this book. I couldn’t stop listening. I found the narrators voice to be fitting and soothing.

If you’re in a similar situation to Nora I’m sure you can find it to be a bit life changing or even thought provoking. I will be listening to this one again and again.

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12 people found this helpful

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Read this book!

If you are scrolling through reviews right now trying to figure out if you should read this book, the answer is yes!

I loved this book. It will be a book that I reread many times, and I can already see that I will get something more out of it each time. The narration is amazing as well, It felt comfortable to listen to.

I’ve not ever read a book where I connected more with the main character! This book is my new favourite book, and I’m off to read more Matt Haig books now!

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11 people found this helpful

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Banish regret

Powerful and highly entertaining book about beating depression and it’s root causes - like regret. “It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out. But it is not lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It's the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people's worst enemy.”

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11 people found this helpful

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Truly outstanding!

This book is not only a wonderfully, compelling & beautifully written story; but it is also, perhaps more importantly, life affirming & engenders hope. Definitely going on my fave shelf to be brought out regularly on lifes journey.

Brilliant narration as well!

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9 people found this helpful

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Fulfills my dream of a grand, undoable do-over

I was hooked from the moment I read the blurb for this book. Like probably every human ever, I have often wondered what my life might be like if only I had done one thing differently, or had done something else at a different time, and so on. Even though intellectually I grasp that we all do the best we can until we know better, this book tapped into the part of me that still has some regrets, particularly when my choices have affected those around me. It pulled out my innermost secrets and shadows and made me think about them in a whole new way. This one goes onto a very short list of books I plan to read (or listen to) again. MUCH LOVE.

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7 people found this helpful

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Charming and thoughtful

I totally enjoyed this book. Somehow ended up following the author on Instagram and then bought the book. I thought it might be dreary , as the protagonist is a bit ...well, you’ll see. But it’s woven together so thoughtfully and I loved it.

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5 people found this helpful

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Fantastic

It was an amazing book and I wish I could listen to it again with fresh ears.

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4 people found this helpful

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Was a heart felt read that will having you looking inward

Loved the book ! Really have not listened to many fiction books but this one was deep and only reason I did not finish faster was I enjoyed taking breaks to ponder the writing in itself but also in my own life :)

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2 people found this helpful

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Hopeful, Intriguing

Curiously, a work that seemed seriously hopeless, gradually pulled me in to one of the most profound and hopeful reads since Pilgrim by Timothy Findley. Thoroughly modern. Well done!

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  • Lyn
  • 2020-10-02

Loved this!

I didn’t want it to end! Laughed and cried my way through it - in two days! (Sorry housework...not sorry...no regrets!). Brilliant story - beautifully and thoughtfully read. Ordered a copy for my grandchildren.

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  • jen
  • 2023-08-23

My best read of the year!

This book is an easy read and a great escape. At the same time it makes you think. Life is what you make it! I enjoyed the audio version.

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  • Sean Cassidy
  • 2023-02-03

Started good - Finished weaker

I found it started with promise amd some intrigue but slowed down and became overtly "self-helpish."

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2023-01-23

My Therapist Recommended It

I loved the story, and the perspective it offers. listening to it vs reading it was recommended to me, because a lot of the protagonist's thoughts while fighting depression are the same as my own. My therapist said that listening to it is good because it doesn't enter my echo chamber, because it is in someone else's voice. The protagonist's personal growth is incredible!

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  • Tee
  • 2023-01-17

captivating

I struggled to get through the first chapter but I am so very glad that I did! Captivating story.that was moving and thought provoking.

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  • Kari Hewer
  • 2022-05-29

loved this story

I loved this story..very good story on life. the choice we make the decisions we have..the wonder of paths not taken and how they might have changed! I love my life but it would be fun to go to the midnight library..or the video store. hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did

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  • Tom
  • 2022-01-07

Wow...so, so good.

A friend recommended this book to me - it*was*amazing! And Carey Mulligan's narration made it even better! Honestly one of the beat things I have listened to on Audible.

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  • Sandwell
  • 2021-07-28

Loved it!

I love this book. I’d love the idea of different lives. I found it gentle heartwarming. And it really made me think about being grateful. I love books that make me think. But just a bit 😀

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  • Didi
  • 2021-02-21

A bit cheesy, but great.

Needed this. The writing is easy (characters a bit flat and there are other literary foibles), but the story was absorbing and timely. To my surprise I got lost in it. Theme is a tad hokey (bourgeois angst and malaise) but it is exactly that of which my heart needed reminding. Despite my internal divisions, my enjoyment won out. Carrie Mulligan provided skilled narration - hoping to hear more of her on audible.

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  • CasyK
  • 2021-02-02

The incredible lives of Nora Seed

Beautifully narrated by Carey Mulligan and sensitively written by Matt Haig I found myself travelling along with Nora on her journeys, understandings, dissolving regrets and growing love for her self. The Midnight Library held my attention as, although, it starts off with such loss and depression it always seems to give you the dangling carrot of hope, unexpected circumstances and I really liked Nora. I do not think there are many people who have not experienced these thoughts and emotions, whether they share them with others or not, whether they are fleeting for a few weeks or months after a major life crisis or whether depression stays with you for years; most human beings have experienced how Nora felt and because of this have empathy for her situation. It's a good book that never drags, it's well paced and you get just enough of her new life before she moves on. Carey Mulligan really breathed life into Nora and was a treat to listen too on audio despite the initial heavy subject matter it was a very good read/listen. This book will stay with me for a while as I sift through my thoughts on it and indeed, my own life and the possibilities ahead.

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