Matt Haig on ‘The Midnight Library,’ Mental Illness and Winnie-the-Pooh
5/15/202642 min
Matt Haig was already several books into his career as a writer by the time he published “The Midnight Library” in 2020. One of those books, the 2015 memoir “Reasons to Stay Alive,” had even been a best seller in England, his home nation. Yet, “The Midnight Library” was a true breakout phenomenon. The novel, about a depressed woman who, after deciding to end her own life, ends up in a magical library in which every book presents her with an alternative life, eventually sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.
The author’s new book, “The Midnight Train,” takes place on a parallel track. In it, an older man dies and finds himself on a train, able to revisit key moments in his life on his way to the hereafter. Like its blockbuster sibling, the book is concerned with questions of gratitude, regret and perspective.
Haig joined the “Book Review” podcast and spoke to the host, Gilbert Cruz, about his new book and why he returned to the world of “The Midnight Library.”
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Credits
The “Book Review” podcast is hosted by Gilbert Cruz and produced by Sarah Diamond, Amy Pearl, and Patricia Sulbarán. The show is edited by Larissa Anderson and mixed by Pedro Rosado.
Special thanks to MJ Franklin, Dahlia Haddad, and Brooke Minters.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Gilbert Cruz· Host0:35
[upbeat music] I'm Gilbert Cruz, and this is The Book Review from The New York Times. Today on the show, we've got some book recommendations for you. We're gonna get into those a bit later. But first, it's author Matt Haig. Matt, you live in Brighton?
Matt Haig· Guest0:49
Yes, Brighton.
Gilbert Cruz· Host0:51
He's most known in the United States for his smash hit, The Midnight Library. That's the story of a woman who has reached a breaking point. She ends up in a library filled with books that each hold a different version of her life. If she opens one, she can step into the life she would have lived if she had made different decisions. That book was published in twenty twenty, and it became hugely popular, selling more than ten million copies worldwide. Matt is now out with a new book, something he sees as kind of a sibling to The Midnight Library. It's called The Midnight Train. I'd love to start, before we talk about The Midnight Train, with The Midnight Library, since they are connected. This is a book