If you’ve ever read The Midnight Library, you’ll already know how brilliantly Matt Haig takes the simplest of situations and turns them into something unexpectedly powerful. He has a knack for drawing readers into ordinary moments and giving them extraordinary weight - the kind that lingers long after the final page is turned. The Midnight Train has exactly the same impact on the reader. Even the name of the main character, Wilbur, paints a picture in my mind of a gentleman with kind eyes and a gentle heart. We first meet him as a young man, hopelessly in love and...
It takes something truly special for a book to move a reader to tears, and it’s only in the final pages that the full weight of this story lands. Knowing it’s a debut novel makes the achievement all the more remarkable. Throughout, the author leads you on an epic journey of resilience against all odds, prompting a confronting question - could any of us have endured the horrors of WWII, let alone faced them as young teenagers? Max and Hans, childhood friends, having been forced to become soldier trainees, escape the clutches of their youth regiment, to embark on a...
