ŷ������

4��
“Nora went through her social media. No messages, no comments, no new followers, no friend requests. She was antimatter, with added self-pity.

She went on Instagram and saw everyone had worked out how to live, except her. She posted a rambling update on Facebook, which she didn’t even really use anymore.

Two hours before she decided to die, she opened a bottle of wine.��

So, Nora, you’re a mess. And you know it. ‘Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I’m gonna go eat worms��, as little kids I grew up with used to chant. You might rather be a sort of nothing.

“Nora stared down at the small mole on her left hand. That mole had been through everything she’d been through. And it just stayed there, not caring. Just being a mole.��

Well, Matt Haig has some surprises in store for you . . . and your mole!

But a warning �� watch out for the wine and any other bad choices that could send you loopy. Hang on, things are going to get hairy!

Remember your favourite librarian, Mrs. Elm? Guess what? She’s still a librarian, and you, lucky you, are about to see her again.

“As she spoke, Mrs. Elm’s eyes came alive, twinkling puddles in moonlight.

‘Between life and death there is a library,�� she said. ‘And within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be different if you had made other choices.����

Turns out, you have/had an infinite number of choices, Nora. Mrs. Elm will tell you about the Robert Frost poem.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ��
I took the road less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference . . .��

But then she asks you, what if there were more than two roads, an endless number of roads? What would Frost have done? What would YOU do?

Isn't it nice that Mrs. Elm is named for a tree? A tree that has, well maybe not an infinite number of branches, but a lot.

Now guess what? Mrs. Elm is going to show you an infinite number of shelves, climbing out of sight into the heavens, filled with your books, your life choices. Go ahead, be brave. Pick one and dive in! Who knows?

NORA dives in. This is fun, a bit preachy and a bit expected, but entertaining. It reminds me of the old Quantum Leap show where the hero suddenly landed somewhere in time to sort things out. Nora does much the same, seeing her life and the people in it from different perspectives. If her life changes, so does theirs.

I’ll quote from only one. No, two, because I liked the title of this chapter.

“Why Want Another Universe If This One Has Dogs?����

Below is a favourite ‘landing��, but it’s not a spoiler.

“But since entering the Midnight Library Nora had slowly got used to the peculiar.
. . .
She felt her ring finger.

Two rings.

The man turned over.

An arm landed across her in the dark and she gently raised it and placed it back on the duvet.��

Although the message isn’t new, and many of the situations seem a little obvious, it is an entertaining read that I hope might help pull a few people back from the brink, stop them from living and dying and measuring success by social media and dwelling on bitter regrets. Sometimes what seems obvious to me, isn’t obvious or believable when you’re in the depths of despair.