Read-alikes
Books Like The Midnight Library
Second chances, other lives and the question of which one is worth living.
Updated September 2026 · By Sawyer V.
The short version
The Midnight Library pairs a big question — what if I had chosen differently? — with warmth. Life After Life and Dark Matter explore other lives, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Anxious People the warmth, and The Five People You Meet in Heaven the reckoning. Match the book to the half they loved.
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How we picked
Each pick names which element it matches: the alternate lives, the comfort, or the reckoning with a life already lived. We flag the books that deal with despair, because this novel's readers often come to it at a hard time. We have not read all eight.
What we do on every list: read the publisher’s own description rather than a summary of it, check print length and first publication year against library catalog data (last refreshed September 11, 2026), confirm the book is still sold in the format we suggest, and write the match line before the blurb. What we do not do is claim to have read every book here cover to cover. The full method is published, and it is written so anyone can check it.
The short answer
Who each book is for, at a glance. Select a row for the full write-up.
| # | Book | Give this if | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Life After LifeKate Atkinson · 529 pagesMatches the other lives | they loved the idea of living again and again | |
| 2 |  Dark MatterBlake Crouch · 366 pagesThe thriller version | they want the what-if at speed | |
| 3 |  Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely FineGail Honeyman · 352 pagesMatches the comfort | they loved a lonely person finding their way back | |
| 4 |  Anxious PeopleFredrik Backman · 352 pagesMatches the warmth | they want strangers being kind to each other | |
| 5 |  The Five People You Meet in HeavenMitch Albom · 223 pagesMatches the reckoning | they want a short, consoling book about a life's meaning | |
| 6 |  Under the Whispering DoorT. J. Klune · 400 pagesMatches the second chance | they want humor alongside the big questions | |
| 7 |  The Comfort BookMatt Haig · 272 pagesThe author's own consolations | they want Matt Haig without the novel | |
| 8 |  The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the HorseCharlie MackesyThe gentlest | they need something they can read in ten minutes |
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Eight, by which element they match
1. Matches the other lives
Life After Life
Kate Atkinson
Give this ifthey loved the idea of living again and again
A girl born in England in 1910 dies and is born again, over and over, living different versions of the twentieth century. More literary and more ambitious, built on the same question.
One caveat: Long, and moves through two world wars.
- Print length
- 529 pages
- First published
- 2013
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
2. The thriller version
Dark Matter
Blake Crouch
Give this ifthey want the what-if at speed
A physics professor is abducted and wakes in a version of his life that is his, except for everything. The same question as The Midnight Library, told as a thriller.
- Print length
- 366 pages
- First published
- 2016
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
3. Matches the comfort
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Gail Honeyman
Give this ifthey loved a lonely person finding their way back
A lonely, rigidly routined office worker in Glasgow has her life slowly opened up by a kind colleague and an act of chance. Funny, sad and hopeful, and gentle about loneliness.
One caveat: Deals with childhood trauma.
- Print length
- 352 pages
- First published
- 2017
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
4. Matches the warmth
Anxious People
Fredrik Backman
Give this ifthey want strangers being kind to each other
A failed bank robbery turns into a hostage situation at an apartment viewing, and the strangers involved slowly turn out to be kind. Gentle about despair without being a book about despair.
One caveat: Touches on suicide.
- Print length
- 352 pages
- First published
- 2020
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
5. Matches the reckoning
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Mitch Albom
Give this ifthey want a short, consoling book about a life's meaning
An elderly amusement-park mechanic dies trying to save a girl and meets five people in the afterlife who explain his life to him. Short, simple and consoling.
- Print length
- 223 pages
- First published
- 2003
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
6. Matches the second chance
Under the Whispering Door
T. J. Klune
Give this ifthey want humor alongside the big questions
A ruthless lawyer dies and is taken to a tea shop run by a ferryman, where he has to come to terms with the life he wasted. Funny and moving about regret.
- Print length
- 400 pages
- First published
- 2021
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
7. The author's own consolations
The Comfort Book
Matt Haig
Give this ifthey want Matt Haig without the novel
Short notes and reflections from the author of The Midnight Library on getting through hard times. Not a novel, but the same voice and the same warmth.
- Print length
- 272 pages
- First published
- 2021
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
8. The gentlest
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Charlie Mackesy
Give this ifthey need something they can read in ten minutes
Illustrated conversations between a boy and three animal friends about kindness and asking for help. Tiny and earnest, and a comfort for the same reader.
- First published
- 2019
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
A big question and a warm heart
The Midnight Library works because it asks a heavy question — would a different choice have made a better life? — and answers it gently. Readers attach to one half or the other.
- The question: Life After Life or Dark Matter.
- The warmth: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine or Anxious People.
- The reckoning: The Five People You Meet in Heaven or Under the Whispering Door.
A note on care
The novel opens with a woman who wants to die, and several of these books touch on despair, grief or suicide; we note which on the picks. If the person you are buying for is struggling, the gentler books are the kinder choice, and books for someone who is grieving covers that situation more directly.
In the US, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available by call or text at 988.
Where this fits
Cozy fantasy suits a reader who loved the warmth, literary fiction for beginners one who loved the ideas, and books everyone is talking about covers the current conversation. Warm, reflective novels are also lovely in audio, and the subscription panel on this page explains who that suits.
Two ways to read this list for less
If several books here appeal, a subscription usually beats buying them one at a time — but only for the right kind of reader. Here is who each one actually suits.
Audible Premium Plus
For anyone whose hands are busy
Driving, walking, cooking, cleaning. It converts hours that were never available for reading, which is a bigger effect than any discount. Books bought with a credit stay yours after you cancel — titles from the included catalog do not, and confusing the two is the most common complaint about the service.
See Audible plans and current pricingHow Audible actually works — credits, gifting and what happens when you cancel.
Kindle Unlimited
For fast readers who browse
It pays off from about three ebooks a month, in the genres the catalog covers well — romance, romantasy, cozy mystery, thriller, progression fantasy. It does not pay off if you are waiting on a specific new hardcover, because those are usually not included. Everything is borrowed, not owned.
See Kindle Unlimited terms and pricingIs Kindle Unlimited worth it? — the arithmetic, done on your own reading.
#ad — how we are funded. We print no subscription prices anywhere on this site, because they change and a stale figure sends you to a checkout expecting something that is not there. And if you read in silence in a chair, neither of these is for you — buy the book, or borrow it from your library.
What we would skip
Giving it as a self-help book
The Midnight Library is often recommended to people going through a hard time, and a read-alike can land as a comment on how they are doing. If you are giving one of these to someone who is struggling, choose the warmer books, write a kind line inside, and do not make the gift about their problems.
Questions people ask
What should I read after The Midnight Library?
Life After Life for the other lives, or Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine for the warmth.
Are there books like The Midnight Library about alternate lives?
Life After Life and Dark Matter both follow a character through versions of a life, one literary and one a thriller.
What should I read after Matt Haig?
The Comfort Book, his short collection of reflections, or Anxious People, which has a similar gentle humor about despair.
Is The Midnight Library right for someone who is struggling?
It is hopeful, but it begins with a suicide attempt. Know your reader, and choose a gentler book if you are unsure.
Sources
- Open Library Search API — First publication year, median print length and cover art for every book on this page. Queried 8 September 2026.
- Audible Premium Plus membership page — The only authoritative source for current Audible plans, prices and terms.
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