What if you realized that the fact you were a terrific Olympic-caliber swimmer but couldn’t stand attention? Or you were a gifted songwriter in a band that fell apart just as they got the attention of a major record label? What if this nice guy, a surgeon, whom you turned down for coffee came up to your door and told you your cat lay dead in the street.

You’d begin to sink into despair, at the very least.

You might even decide to take your life…..

Well that’s the turn Nora Seed’s life takes.

But instead of light at the end of the tunnel, she finds herself facing a huge gray building which upon entering, she discovers is a never-ending library.

And no one else is in there save Nora’s grammar school librarian Mrs. Elm who always engaged her in chess. The only person who she got along with and didn’t alienate.

Mrs. Elm introduces Nora to the Midnight Library where a hefty Book of Regrets shows Nora *every* life choices she turned down.

And now, which she might reverse by confronting her regrets and taking action. By becoming a smashing Gold Medalist, by becoming an international rock star who performs before thousands, By marrying the nice surgeon and having a lovely home in the suburbs, a dog and a daughter.

When I began this book and found myself wading through the constant failures and the dismal, colorless life of Nora Seed, I was wondering how much further I wanted to slog through her miserable story.

And then Haig takes us to the mysterious Midnight Library with seemingly endless, unidentified books that contain all of Nora’s regrets; the lives she might have led if she’d only said yes.

Haig then begins to show us (and Nora) the truth of that old adage “never ask for what you want. You might just get it.”

The parade of Nora’s regrets turned into the lives she thought she wanted is just captivating and handled so deftly; I couldn’t put down the book!

And Nora’s final choice? We’ll you’ll just have to read this and find out! ~~ Sue Martin