Book review: The Midnight Train by Matt Haig

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig is the second in a series peeking into life and death. In The Midnight Library we spend time with a woman teetering BETWEEN life and death. Here we meet a man, recently-dead, who’s offered a chance to drop in on his past selves at pivotal moments in his life. He’s not meant to intervene or be seen, but here octogenarian Wilbur asks… what if there’s a chance to rectify a mistake that will haunt you for years. One you might not even realise the extent to which you regret it until you’re dying. Or (ahem… you know) dead.

About this book

The Midnight Train
by Matt Haig
Series: The Midnight World #2
Published by Canongate Books
on 26/05/2026
Source: Allen & Unwin
Genres: General Fiction, Literary Fiction
ISBN: 1837262837
Pages: 304

Goodreads

No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there. The chance to re-live the moments that meant most. To see what kind of person you really were.

For Wilbur his best days were with Maggie, the love of his life. On his honeymoon in Venice.

Before he gave it all away.

He wishes he could go back and live differently. But to do so risks everything . . .

My thoughts

I’ve said this before. I have absolutely no interest in reading any of Haig’s non-fiction books, but I adore his writing. And I realise I put myself at risk of sounding vacuous or easily impressed by someone’s profundity, when I say his fiction seems effortlessly insightful*. I don’t think I’m that gullible (or devoid of insight myself) but Haig’s an author that seems to just plant phrases, sentences and paragraphs that give me pause. He seems to just avoid veering into the prosaic or patronising. Just.

In my review of The Midnight Library I talk about almost being turned off because I don’t tend to read the ‘fantastic’ but guess Haig didn’t delve into other worlds… just this one and how we’ve lived it; and it’s the same here.

This opens as Wilbur dies. Sorry #spoiler but it is what it is. It’s after his death he’s reintroduced to Agnes, a kind bookshop seller from his childhood who is his guide through the life he just lived. Via train.

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. p 63

Agnes drops Wilbur (now ‘the Ghost’) off at various points in his life, but he lingers on one in 1974, his honeymoon in Venice… the happiest he was. And it’s there he decides to change the past, which is against the rules on this re-journey through life. But it’s only in death he understands the impact of the choices he once made.

He saw how much he’d been shaped and conducted by his youth. The striving for success he thought he needed to justify his existence. And the struggle with a love he didn’t think he deserved. p 120

There are A LOT of references to authors and books here – unsurprising because Wilbur who so loved Agnes’s bookstore become somewhat a mogul, owning a chain of bookstores. Albeit at the demise of his marriage and any family life.

He read because stories gave him the room to grow beyond the world he was given. They helped him feel as if the lives he read about intertwined with his own, like threads in an every-extending rope. Stories made him strong. p 51

We travel Wilbur’s past, via the train but also via memories and learn what become of his life.

Happiness squandered was painful to look at from the future. p 177

There’s a bittersweetness about this book, but also a sense of hope.I bookmarked quote after quote, phrase after phrase.

There were many deaths in life….

To come was the death of youth, of ideals. Of connection, friendships, principles, love. And these were often just choices. Choices that had seemed right at the time, in the moment, but when you got to the end, to the very last death, you looked back and realised all the lost versions that you left along the way. p 90

This is very episodic with short sharp chapters (practically-named eg. In), some just a paragraph or two all with lessons or realisations for Ghost Wilbur. So, easily absorbable.

I loved the cameo from Nora (who we met in The Midnight Library). I wouldn’t have made the connection had she not referenced events from that book. I enjoyed this. Obviously Haig’s eloquence but also the reminders Wilbur’s regrets offer us. I’m not likely to make healthier choices or leave my way-too-stressful job as a result, but hopefully something’s implanted into my brain as I make MY future choices.

The incredibly annoying thing about being dead was that you got all your priorities in order, just when it was too late to do anything about them. p 238

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig will be published by Allen & Unwin in late May 2026.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.

*And in saying that I’m reminded of the meme… “I like using big words I don’t fully understand to make myself sound more photosynthesis.”