The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig
Contents
Lost in the Library
Overview
In a darkened Midnight Library, Nora despairs that every life disappoints and fears she has run out of options. Mrs Elm reminds her the shelves still hold infinite possibilities and urges her to re-examine her regrets and values. Remembering Ash’s kindness, Nora resolves to try the life where she accepted his coffee. The shelves reveal that book, steering Nora from aimless sampling toward a choice rooted in kindness and clarity.
Summary
The Midnight Library turns dark as Nora, exhausted by countless sampled lives, tells Mrs Elm she cannot go on and feels ungrateful for never finding contentment. Mrs Elm explains that while a book never returns to the shelves once chosen, the shelves remain as full as ever—there are still infinite possible lives. Nora admits she no longer understands what she wants and fears being trapped.
Mrs Elm urges Nora to listen: by becoming everyone, Nora is becoming no one, forgetting her root life and the specific regrets that shaped her. The Book of Regrets, Mrs Elm says, exists within Nora; she must revisit it to rediscover what matters. They discuss perception and how Nora chose to see Mrs Elm because she represented trust and kindness.
As the lights slowly return, Mrs Elm asks where Nora has felt genuine kindness in her root life. Nora recalls Ash’s compassion the night he found Volts and helped bury the cat, and remembers he had once asked her for coffee when she was with Dan. She realizes a life exists in which she was free to say yes.
Resolved to test a path rooted in kindness rather than novelty, Nora asks for the life where she accepted Ash’s invitation. The shelves shift and present the corresponding book, signaling a purposeful new direction in her search.
Who Appears
- Nora SeedDespairing in the dark library, she reconsiders her regrets and chooses to try a life where she said yes to Ash.
- Mrs ElmGuide of the library; explains infinite possibilities, urges Nora to revisit regrets and follow kindness.
- AshRemembered for his kindness and past coffee invitation; becomes the focus of Nora’s next chosen life.
- DanReferenced ex whose relationship prevented Nora from accepting Ash’s earlier invitation.