BEST known for The Midnight Library, Matt Haig expands the conceptual universe of his earlier novel with The Midnight Train, a story that begins when the protagonist, Wilbur Budd, dies, aged 81.

Boarding a mysterious train in the afterlife, Wilbur travels through his past, stopping at key moments that shaped him. He is forced to reflect on the decisions he made growing up in Sheffield during the 1960s and ’70s and, throughout this journey, struggles with feelings of regret and shame. Although not completely original, it is an interesting premiss that lends the novel an elegant scaffold.

Beyond Matt Haig’s earlier work, the book recalls Time’s Arrow (Martin Amis) in making disrupted chronology a plot point rather than a structural device, and even suggests A Christmas Carol. Often, The Midnight Train traverses interesting concepts without exploring them fully, such as Wilbur returning to his 29-year-old body for this post-death journey — the closest that he came to his “true self”.

That said, the writing is sensitive and warm, touching on fatherhood and grief with care, and remaining nostalgic in tone without growing over-sentimental. As you read, it is hard not to think about your own decisions and the odd twists of fate which shape us. The idea that you could revisit or even edit the past is tantalising (if self-indulgent). Overall, The Midnight Train is a page-turner with some very tender moments.

The Midnight Train
Matt Haig
Canongate £20
(978-1-83726-213-7)
Church Times Bookshop £18