It started with How to Stop Time, followed by The Midnight Library, and yes, any book with library or bookshop in the title is always a favourite, followed by The Comfort Book. His writing is “like a box of chocolates” you really don’t know what you are going to get until the end; quite uniquely magical. He is honest and with his non-fiction The Comfort Book he lays out his life with mental health, healing and struggle.
Haig’s ability to capture the nuances of mental health and the human experience shines through, providing a relatable reflection for those who have faced similar struggles. The Life Impossible is a poignant exploration of existential themes wrapped in a compelling narrative. Haig’s writing blends humour and profound insight, making complex emotional landscapes accessible to readers.
It is brave to make your main protagonist a 72-year-old lonely, retired maths teacher who’s grappling with the absurdities of life, weaving through moments of despair, guilt, loss, hope, and the search for meaning. Grace is propelled to an odyssey of action and awe in Ibiza, the island of youth, raves and drugs and nude beaches, where she has been left a house by an old acquaintance, and she arrives with a one-way ticket, no guidebook, and no plan. It’s “Murder, She Wrote” meets “Under the Tuscan Sun,” or as Haig describes Grace: “Don Quixote dressed in Marks & Spencer”.
Haig’s style is engaging, with a conversational tone that invites readers into the p.
