Review: The Midnight Train by Matt Haig

Matt Haig was already a successful author before the publication of The Midnight Library in 2020. His two honest and reassuring memoir/self-help books Reasons to Stay Alive & Notes on a Nervous Planet had won him a devoted following (I loved them both), and his bold, quirky novels (loved The Humans and How to Stop Time, too) and children's fiction were being turned into films and series. But then his uplifting The Midnight Library went on to sell - by some estimates - 12 million copies.

Suddenly he was one of the hottest properties on earth. In 2024 he published the beautiful, The Life Impossible, which was another huge hit. But Haig must have felt he wasn’t quite done with the magical world of The Midnight Library because he has returned with The Midnight Train. And I, for one, am very happy he did.

The endearing novel is like a reimagining of A Christmas Carol, but takes place in that moment in death where your life flashes before your eyes. Then Haig asks, what if this was less a flash, and more a sedate train journey through your past where you got off at all the pivotal moments of your life. You’d be tempted to change a few things wouldn’t you? Delicious idea. And brilliantly executed. I loved it. It has ‘hit’ written all over it. I might go read it again.