Summary
The novel begins with Nora talking to her teacher Mrs. Elm over a game of chess. They briefly discuss the nature of chance and possibility before Mrs. Elm gets up to answer the phone. Nora talks to a boy in her class about swimming. Mrs. Elm appears to receive terrible news and goes to deliver it to Nora.
The novel then flashes forward to a particularly terrible day in Nora's life. First, she learns from a neighbor that her cat, Voltaire, has just died. Then she arrives at her job at a music store and is fired. She walks around her hometown of Bedford reflecting on her estrangement from her brother and the failure of her dream of being a touring musician.
She receives a phone call from the angry mother of one of her piano students and is told her lessons will no longer be necessary. Later, she texts her best friend and gets no reply and her elderly neighbor tells her he no longer needs her to pick up his medication. Feeling that she no longer has any meaningful connections left in the world, Nora decides to end her life. She takes an overdose of medication and passes out on her bathroom floor.
When she wakes up, she finds herself in front of a building and walks inside. She is surrounded by books and greeted by a strangely young version of Mrs. Elm. She explains to Nora that this place is the Midnight Library, a space in which she has the opportunity to rewrite her regrets and live out different versions of her life. She shows her a book called the Book of Regrets which contains all of the things she wished she had or had not done. She encourages Nora to go out and explore some of these parallel lives as a means of better understanding who she is and what she wants.
She decides to live out a version of her life where she married her ex-boyfriend Dan, because she regrets having broken off their engagement. She travels to this life and learns that they own a pub together. She heads inside and finds Dan closing up after a trivia night. She slowly begins to understand the shape of their life together. She initially likes the fact that they went through with his dream of purchasing a pub together, but quickly begins to perceive the cracks in their relationship.
She notes the way that Dan seems irritated by most of the things she says as well as the dismissive way he laughs at her. Dan is confused by her lack of familiarity with the details of their life, as she asks basic questions about their pub and home. In a surprising revelation, she finds out that in this life their marriage is deeply troubled, in large part because Dan cheated on her. Disappointed by this revelation and the general lack of joy in this other life, Nora returns to the library by way of its magical transportation properties.
Nora complains that she feels she did not learn very much as this life was largely just as disappointing as her original one. She says it didn't help her feel as though she wanted to keep living, as she feels as though she is "destined" to be miserable in every life. Mrs. Elm simply says it is hard to predict the outcome of individual actions, but encourages her to keep going.
Analysis
Possibility is a major theme of this first section of the book. In their conversation over chess, Mrs. Elm talks to Nora about how full of potential her young life is. She compares it to the moves available on a chess board. Later this idea recurs when the Midnight Library version of Mrs. Elm explains the mechanics of the space to Nora. She says that the library is made up of books containing the various lives she did not lead as a result of the many minor decisions she made. The idea of possibility is outlined as something Nora should marvel at, as Mrs. Elm indicates how much possibility is contained in a decision as small as going on a coffee date.
Loneliness is another key theme in this section of the book. Nora's decision to make an attempt to end her life is largely driven by her loneliness. She feels untethered to the world as a result of her bad circumstances. She is alienated from her brother. She does not keep in touch with her best friend, Izzy. She has lost both of her jobs. She has no romantic partner. Even her cat has died. She is left feeling as though there is no one left who relies on her or cares about her. This complete lack of human connection in her life makes her despondent, as she has the sense that nothing she does truly matters.
Regret also appears as a major component in these initial chapters. Mrs. Elm informs Nora that all of her regrets have been compiled into a book called the Book of Regrets. Its pages contain various things Nora wishes she had done differently throughout her life. These regrets drive her alternative lives, as they set up each of her journeys. In the first life she explores, she is given the chance to see how things would have turned out if she had married and purchased a pub with Dan, as this was something she had regretted not doing before.
Control is another prominent theme in this part of the book, as Nora quickly finds that her actions do not have the consequences she anticipated. In exploring her parallel life with Dan, she sees that things did not turn out as well as she imagined they would have. She even tells Mrs. Elm this, saying that she feels that her unhappiness in that different life indicated to her that she would always be unhappy, no matter what choices she made. Though this initial thought makes her more despondent, it is the first step toward realizing that her regrets over missed possibilities may be displaced.
The first part of the book establishes most of its main themes, situating Nora's actual life before delving into the unlived possibilities of her other, unlived ones. The reader sees the painful loneliness that informs her life but is also given a sense of the possibility she still has. These chapters establish the book's interest in exploring how Nora's regrets make her feel a lack of purpose.
