Matt Haig

Fiction 2024 / 324 pages

A small, long-ago act of kindness towards her colleague Christina leads to 72-year-old Grace being bequeathed a house in Iziba, Spain.  Puzzled as to why a virtual stranger would do such a thing, Grace decides to go visit the house.

Grace is filled with grief, being recently widowed and also losing her son Daniel in a bicycle accident.

This book is the story Grace writes in a very long e-mail to one of her former students who is struggling in life. Grace proceeds to tell this student how she, too, has been struggling through her life, and how this house changes her life. Once on Ibiza, she is drawn towards La Presencia, where she discovers and claims her psychic fantasy powers.

This book is 100 pages of unmitigated grief, followed by 225 pages of a story.  Now, I like fantasy and magical realism in a novel, but this was about 70% fantasy and 30% real story.  The story is like a skeleton on which Haig hangs the fantasy.  Someone on Goodreads said it read like a first draft and I can agree with that.  Just too much gravy and not enough meat.

I read the entire book and enjoyed it somewhat, but I hesitate to suggest you put this book on your nightstand.

November 2024