#SOLOSTORIES: “The Midnight Library”

SoloStories is our feature in which we explore books, films and TV shows that show single women navigating their lives – but romance is not the main component.

Nora Seed, the main character of Matt Haig’s “The Midnight Library,” is at the lowest point of her life when she enters the Midnight Library. With each book she opens, the music store employee begins a new life.

In those pages, she becomes a scientist who faces polar bears in the Arctic Ocean. Then she’s an Olympics gold medalist in swimming who works as a motivational speaker. In another book, she’s a rock star. But then, she is married to Ash, a surgeon, and is the mother of two children.

“Library” brings answers to the questions many humans have – what if our lives turned into a different direction? What if we pursued a different career? What if that relationship turned into marriage? For single women, it’s a question that pops in our mind often because having a family is an experience that wanders through our minds – and society often looks down on being independent.

Haig’s writing paints a vivid picture of all Nora’s lives. But he does it without judgment – every choice brings interesting perspectives and relationships. And humans have to power to create their paths. As the book says, “She just needed potential. And she was nothing if not potential. She wondered why she had never seen it before.”

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