SHELF Company book discussion on The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Have you ever wondered about the life you might have lived if you had made a different choice?

Taken the job. Stayed in the relationship. Moved somewhere else. Said yes. Said no.

November’s online SHELF-Company book, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, invites us to sit with those “what ifs” and consider what makes a life meaningful.

And where better to explore those questions than in the company of other readers?

A library of possible lives

Nora Seed finds herself in a library between life and death. Each book offers the opportunity to experience a life she might have lived had she made different choices.

She can revisit possibilities, explore ambitions and discover whether the lives she imagined would actually feel the way she expected.

The novel opens up questions about regret, expectations, identity, belonging and hope.

What makes a life worthwhile? Whose definition of success are we following? And what might we overlook in our own lives while imagining somebody else’s?

Reading through SHELF-Care

SHELF Company is my monthly online bibliotherapeutic book club.

We begin with a book and make room for the conversations it creates. You can enjoy the story, question its messages, disagree with its conclusions or find something that helps you understand your world differently.

Together, we’ll explore The Midnight Library through the five domains of SHELF-Care:

📚 Share: Which moment stayed with you, and what would you like to share about your response?

📚 Hope: Where did you find hope in Nora’s story? Were there moments when that hope felt difficult to believe?

📚 Express: What feelings did the book stir, and did it help you find words for them?

📚 Learn: What did you notice about regret, other people’s expectations or your understanding of a meaningful life?

📚 Friends: What changes when we hear another reader’s perspective? How can we offer companionship without trying to fix one another?

These conversations make room for identification, emotional expression, insight and connection: the four bibliotherapy stages of identification, catharsis, insight and universalisation.

A gentle invitation and trigger warning

This novel includes depression, suicidal thoughts, a suicide attempt, grief and loss. Please consider whether it feels like the right reading choice for you at this time.

You are welcome to pass on a question, listen quietly or step away. Personal disclosure is never required, and different responses to the book are welcome.

Print, e-books and audiobooks all count as reading. There is no preferred format and no requirement to arrive with a polished opinion.

Join us on the SHELF

Book: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Date: Wednesday 25 November 2026
Time: 4.30pm WA time.
Which is 6pm Northern Territory time.
Which is 6.30pm Queensland time.
Which is 7pm South Australia time.
Which is 7.30 pm AEDT, Sydney and Melbourne time. 

Where: Click here to join Online via Microsoft Teams

Bring your book, your cuppa and your curiosity.

Read slowly. Notice what catches your attention. Perhaps make a note of a passage you would like to discuss.

Who’s going to read it with me? Invite a friend who enjoys books and meaningful conversation.

👵🎓 Megan Bayliss
Social work supervisor. PhD in psychoeducation and bibliotherapy. Creator of the SHELF-Care framework.