The Midnight Library

How it reads

The Midnight Library is contemporary fiction (philosophical speculative fiction, specifically), and its dominant mood is hopeful. Whatever it puts its people through, it believes things can get better. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in several locations, in the present day, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are identity, redemption and loss and grief. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. It's a short book. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.