THE LIFE IMPOSSIBLE by the endlessly talented Matt Haig is not a novel to be read and enjoyed. It is a work of art that readers need to wrap themselves inside of and savor every last delectable piece.

At the heart of this story is an examination of the full human condition. We’re talking not just about the physical, but about the soul and the pain so many of us deal with day after day in a cruel world that seems far from ever caring about us again. Is it possible for a novel to magically answer all the questions and concerns we have about ourselves? Maybe not. But the journey you are about to take by opening the book’s cover is a step in the right direction and guarantees that the next several hours of your life will be absorbed in an unexplainable glow that attempts to make you understand things just a little better than you do now.

"THE LIFE IMPOSSIBLE by the endlessly talented Matt Haig is not a novel to be read and enjoyed. It is a work of art that readers need to wrap themselves inside of and savor every last delectable piece."

And now, for the nearly impossible task of describing THE LIFE IMPOSSIBLE without spoiling any of the enjoyment you will receive by simply experiencing it for yourself. It begins with an email written by a young British man named Maurice and is being sent to his old math teacher, Grace Winters. Maurice is having a difficult time with life and longs for answers --- the sort of answers that a math teacher who loves solving problems and the beauty of the Fibonacci sequence would appreciate.

Grace admits that she began to send a reply to Maurice’s message before she realized that a single email could not possibly contain all that she needs to share with her former student. Instead, she sends him a story that, though she confesses parts of it may seem impossible, is purely authentic and hopefully will change his life in much the same way that hers has changed recently.

It begins with a chapter called "Sob Story" and opens with this line: “Once upon a time there was an old woman who lived the most boring life in the universe.” Grace is a widow who experienced unbelievable grief when her 12-year-old son, Daniel, died in a bicycle accident. She also was the victim of a brutal and heartless hacker who all but wiped out the retirement savings and pensions earned by herself and her late husband, Karl. She sees the reminder of her lonely life taking place on the sofa of her flat watching television until it’s her time to join Karl and Daniel.

But everything changes when Grace receives a letter from Christina van der Berg, a fellow teacher she had briefly worked with decades ago. Christina perished in a diving accident and left her house on a Mediterranean island to Grace as a thank you for the kindness that Grace showed to her 20 years earlier during a difficult time in her life. Christina, who somehow knew she was going away, sent this letter promising that if Grace took the leap and came to Ibiza, it would change her life.

Grace debates this decision, but she ultimately relies on her belief in mathematics and how the numbers after the “3.” in the Pi calculation is mind-bogglingly random. So she packs up some things and grabs a plane to Ibiza. The island is beautiful and a mix of so many different people and cultures who appear to be mostly happy. The taxi drops her in front of what she initially thinks is the ugliest house she has seen on the island --- an old white shack with little to no foliage around it. Nevertheless, it’s hers to do with it what she wants. She can live there, use it for holidays or sell it.

As she explores her new home, Grace thinks of something that will bring a smile to all readers: “I always think that the quickest way to understand someone is to look at what’s on their bookshelves.” She sees a mix of well-known novels and books on spirituality and the paranormal. In Christina’s letter, she outlines a number of people and places that Grace needs to meet and experience for herself. She does just that, and her adventure --- which rivals that of Alice or Dorothy at times --- is both highly enjoyable and odd, as if there is a hidden meaning behind everything and everyone in Ibiza. Christina also indicates that there is more to life than what we know and more in our minds than we realize.

What transpires from here is a personal journey of faith and spiritual reawakening, all mixed together with just a bit of magic, fantasy and myth. I encourage you, in much the same way that Christina urges Grace, to take that step into the unknown and remember what it was like when we were not afraid of everything and trusted in the natural world around us. THE LIFE IMPOSSIBLE is simply breathtaking!