Books
After suffering from depression for many years, Matt Haig faces the things that have tormented him
In his new novel, Matt Haig goes back to the place where he fell apart Ibiza, Spain and reclaims it.
Updated 2024-Oct-02 09:00
Haig sits on a chair, outdoors, with a white windowed doorway and shrubbery behind him.
Bickmore noted that numerous writers are afraid to alter their manuscripts because they fear not being able to come up with new ideas to substitute the ones they have taken out.
The same does not apply to Haig. Bickmore stated that during the editing of his book The Humans in 2013 about 40 000 words were removed and 45 000 words were added.
Matt Haig sits with his hands on his knees, in profile, and looks over to glance directly at the camera.
Bickmore mentioned that despite half of the book being removed Matt did not worry about filling the space.
Bickmore characterized The Life Impossible as Haig s ode to Ibiza where he faced a significant crisis but has since found solace.
With the island no longer haunting him Haig can now visit it for a holiday. As the book ventures out into the world Haig can relax and observe its journey feeling liberated.
The success of Midnight Library in my career has relieved some pressure in my mind he commented from a restaurant in Brighton overlooking the sea.
As a young man suffocating under the weight of his depression the author Matt Haig almost walked off a cliff.
Now 25 years later Haig is an internationally best selling novelist and he has set his newest book in the very place where depression almost overcame him: Ibiza Spain.
The novel called The Life Impossible is about finding joy after heart rending loss which he tells from the perspective of a 72 year old woman.
Over the course of his ferociously productive career Haig has written fiction nonfiction and children’s books including books about aliens Christmas stories and a novel about man who lives for centuries.
The Midnight Library a novel about a magical library that allows a woman to enter alternate versions of her own life has sold nearly nine million copies since it was published in 2020.Haig has also written a memoir about his struggle with mental health in Reasons To Stay Alive and now he has written about a place that very nearly undid him.
The Life Impossible’ for me is so personal Haig said. That was reclaiming my past a little bit from a very different perspective.
The book follows a retired English woman who has lost her husband and many years before her young son.
Her small closed fist of a life could easily have petered out quietly in her living room. Instead she goes to Ibiza on an adventure that we will not spoil here except to say that it involves telepathy.
Haig 49 lives in Brighton in southern England with his wife two teenage children and two dogs in a townhouse he describes as a light box.
The ground floor is essentially one large open space with white walls and the back of the house has been replaced by glass so light pours in from the backyard.
It’s on a hill in a row of houses all painted white and from his living room you can see a sliver of the sea dotted by wind turbines.
He and his wife Andrea Semple have been together since they were teenagers they met the night Semple turned 19 and she has watched him tear through novels writing an astonishing 24 books in 30 years.
Haig said he doesn’t believe there is such thing as a book that will be for everyone so he writes with a reader in mind sometimes it is a younger version of himself often it is his wife.
He goes into hyper focus mode on novels Semple said. You go Matt! Matt!’ but he’s in his own world.
I have demonstrated something to myself so I am free to write whatever I choose. Writing has improved.
He became a best selling author with his debut novel at 28 and has seen continued success in his career.
His book that gained popularity in the United States was The Midnight Library selected by Good Morning America Book Club.
In the UK the turning point was marked by Reasons to Stay Alive a book blending memoir and self help in short sections.
From then on it became more than just a book by Matt Haig but rather a Matt Haig book according to his agent Clare Conville.
