Matt Haig writes from his heart. And that’s one recipe for a remarkable piece of writing. Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…” – that’s how lyrical and magical is Haig’s understanding of life.
The Life Impossible tells the story of a retired math teacher Grace Winters who is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend. At this place, curiosity gets the better of her and Winters arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan. Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.
In many ways, The Life Impossible is a story of contrasts. Grace travels from her bleak bungalow in Lincoln to solve a crime on the most vibrant island in the world. As her unlikely friendship with Alberto progresses, her mathematical mind embraces the improbable, and she is released from anhedonia – going from feeling nothing at all to feeling everything.
The many seemingly unrelated references Haig brings, from Nostradamus to Freddie Mercury, Shakespeare to Hill Street Blues, all begin to weave together, and the only way Grace will save herself – and the island – is to embrace those connections.
Haig’s wise and moving novel is both a mystery and a love story, and its greatest gift lies in showing us that it is possible to dismantle the boundaries we have built, grasp the connections previously hidden, and appreciate life in all its richness. While it was a slow start, this became such a moving tale. It covers so much: grief, loss, acceptance, found family, Ibiza’s complicated past and present, impacts of tourism, mistakes, second chances, and more.
