About the book

What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don't understand yet...

When retired Maths teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her.

She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan. Among the rugged hills and golden beaches 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. 

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.

Why we love it

The Life Impossible tells the story of Grace, a 72 year old retiree with dodgy knees and varicose veins, whose husband has passed away and whose young son was tragically killed in a road accident many years previously. 

Grace lives a relatively small life, with a regular weekly routine that has few social interactions. Her life is turned upside down when she unexpectedly inherits a house in Ibiza from a former colleague who has vanished and is presumed to be dead.

As she learns more about her friend's life on Ibiza and tries to solve the mystery behind her disappearance, Grace rediscovers her curiosity for life while becoming embroiled in a battle to save the island from money-hungry property developers.

There are not enough books that feature older women as the main protagonist. More often than not, they're relegated to a grandmotherly role and limited to supporting someone else's adventure. One of the things I loved most about this book is that it's entirely told from Grace's perspective - this is her journey, her moment to shine and regain her confidence, her opportunity to feel deserving of happiness, irrespective of her age or what's happened in the past.

On a surface level, the book is part murder-mystery and part journey of self-discovery, but as with any book from Matt Haig, there's also an element of the mysterious and unexplained to the story. 

This is a book that requires readers to suspend belief and just go with the emotional journey of the character, rather than getting bogged down with reality, facts or logic.

If you can do that, you'll love this book as a metaphysical exploration of grief and loss and learning to live again. If you can't, you'll still enjoy it as a gripping eco-thriller and murder mystery with a wonderfully engaging and lovable central character. Definitely well worth a read either way!

(And can I just say that if anyone out there fancies gifting me a seaside home completely out of the blue that would be just lovely and very gratefully received!)