120,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Overnight NZ-wide delivery 🚀 Auckland Bookstore • Open 7 days, 8:30am–5pm

The Life Impossible

A Novel
By Matt Haig
0.0 (0 reviews)
Brief Description
The New York Times Bestseller “An odyssey of action and awe.” —The New York Times “A wry and tender love-letter to the best of being human.” —Benedict Cumberbatch The remarkable next novel from Matt Haig, the author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Midnight Library,... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$5200

International Supplier

This title is in-stock with overseas suppliers. While it is not available locally, we fly books in weekly from the US and UK to our Auckland warehouse for immediate dispatch.

AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 2-3 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The New York Times Bestseller

“An odyssey of action and awe.” —The New York Times

“A wry and tender love-letter to the best of being human.” —Benedict Cumberbatch

The remarkable next novel from Matt Haig, the author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Midnight Library, with more than nine million copies sold worldwide.

“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…”

When retired math 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 of the island, 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.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780593489291

Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 02 September 2025

Country: United States

Imprint: Penguin USA

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 21.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 255g

Pages: 384

Collections

Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Matt Haig Penguin Books Romance Sci-Fi & Fantasy Science Fiction

About the Author

Matt Haig is the author of the international bestsellers The Life Impossible and The Midnight Library, along with four other novels, the renowned memoir Reasons to Stay Alive, and several award-winning children’s books. His work has been published in fifty territories across the world.

Also by Matt Haig

View all
  • The Midnight Library
    The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is a profound and captivating novel that delves into the intricacies of life’s choices and their impacts on our destinies. Nora Seed’s life has been a series of disappointments and missed opportunities. Struggling with the belief that she has made irrevocable mistakes, Nora's existence takes a surreal turn when she finds herself in a...
    By Matt Haig
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Life Impossible
    The remarkable new novel from the author of the multimillion-selling international sensation The Midnight Library 'A beautiful novel full of life-affirming wonder and imagination' BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH '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...
    By Matt Haig
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Notes on a Nervous Planet
    Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig is a captivating exploration into the challenges of modern life, offering a lifeline of wisdom and wit. Through a series of deeply personal reflections, Haig dissects the anxieties of the digital age, providing readers with insights on how to reclaim control of their mental wellbeing in a world dominated by information overload....
    By Matt Haig
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • How to Stop Time
    How to Stop Time How many lifetimes does it take to learn how to live? Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old history teacher, but he's been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen it all. As long as he keeps changing...
    By Matt Haig
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Life Impossible special edition
    The remarkable new novel from the author of the multimillion-selling international sensation The Midnight Library. "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...
    By Matt Haig
    Hardback
    $4500
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Humans
    THERE'S NO PLANET LIKE HOME After an 'incident' one wet Friday night where he is found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, Professor Andrew Martin is not feeling quite himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confound him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst an alien species and hates everyone on the...
    By Matt Haig
    Paperback
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Girl Who Saved Christmas
    What does it take to believe in magic? It is Christmas Eve and all is not well. Amelia Wishart is trapped in Mr Creeper's workhouse and Christmas is in jeopardy. Magic is fading. If Christmas is to happen, Father Christmas knows he must find her.With the help of some elves, eight reindeer, the Queen and a man called Charles Dickens,...
    By Matt Haig
    Paperback
    $1899
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Truth Pixie Goes to School
    The Truth Pixie Goes to School by Matt Haig New school. New friends. Same old pixie. 'Aada started her new school,And the pixie came too.But this school was a placeWhere it was hard to be true . . .' An uplifting story that will delight younger readers and help them to be themselves in their school uniform. With words by...
    By Matt Haig
    Hardback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Dead Fathers Club
    The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig tells the story of Philip Noble, an eleven-year-old in crisis. His pub landlord father has died in a road accident, and his mother is succumbing to the greasy charms of her dead husband's brother, Uncle Alan. The remaining certainties of Philip's life crumble away when his father's ghost appears in the pub and...
    By Matt Haig
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Possession of Mr Cave
    Terence Cave, owner of Cave Antiques, has already experienced the tragedies of his mother's suicide and his wife's murder when his teenage son, Reuben, is killed in a grotesque accident. His remaining child, Bryony, has always been the family's golden girl, and Terence comes to realise that his one duty in life is to protect her from the world's malign...
    By Matt Haig
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Radleys
    Families. Sometimes they're a bloody nightmare ... Life with the Radleys: Radio 4, dinner parties with the Bishopthorpe neighbours and self-denial. Loads of self-denial. But all hell is about to break loose. When teenage daughter Clara gets attacked on the way home from a party, she and her brother Rowan finally discover why they can't sleep, can't eat a Thai...
    By Matt Haig
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Life Impossible
    THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The remarkable new Sunday Times bestselling novel from the author of the international sensation The Midnight Library 'A beautiful novel full of life-affirming wonder and imagination' BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH '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...
    By Matt Haig
    Hardback
    $4500
    Elsewhere:
    $4999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

More from Romance

View all
  • My Dreadful Darling
    New Release
    My Dreadful Darling
    My darling, it is you who is dreadful. Reverie Adams has only one goal in life: to keep her head above water with her father's sinister legacy weighing on her shoulders. But she's no stranger to drowning—it is her very first memory, after all, and if her demons have their way, it will also be her last. Even with the...
    By H. D. Carlton
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Midnight Curfew
    New Release
    Midnight Curfew
    The Jaeger family return in the brand new queer, dark romance from New York Times bestselling author Penelope Douglas, in which two rivals must fight their forbidden and burning attraction to one another. Summertime is quiet in southern Florida. In the humidity, the streets are empty, and the nights are still—perfect for a little mischief while the police aren't looking....
    By Penelope Douglas
    Paperback
    $2299
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Eldritch
    New Release
    Eldritch
    From the author of Nocticadia comes the sequel to Anathema, a spellbinding gothic dark fantasy about a shunned woman who is forced beyond the mortal realm's forbidden boundary, into a terrifying world of cursed souls and grotesque creatures. In the grimly captivating sequel to Anathema, Maevyth and Zevander must navigate the perilous mortal lands to deliver Zevander from the clutches...
    By Keri Lake
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Psychotic Obsession
    From USA Today bestselling author and TikTok sensation comes the steamy, emotional dark romance spin-off that everyone is talking about!'Filled with TENSION, HEARTBREAK and ELECTRIC CHEMISTRY. This one will tear your heart right out of your chest before tossing it back in and sewing you up' No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Brynne Weaver'Leigh Rivers is THE QUEEN OF...
    By Leigh Rivers
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Taming The Heart
    New Release
    Taming The Heart
    Taming The Heart is a steamy, forbidden-love cowboy romance and the third book in the CRIMSON RIDGE series by internationally bestselling author Elliott Rose. Being hired by a ranch for the summer sounds picture-perfect, right? Except your new boss is your every fantasy come to life—oh, and he's already accidentally seen your favourite "toy." I've always been a free spirit....
    By Elliott Rose
    Paperback
    $2000
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Shield of Sparrows
    Accolades: AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Feature film now in development at Amazon MGM Studios with John Wick screenwriter Derek Kolstad attached - Amazon Best Romantasy Books of the Year 2025 - Apple Books Fantasy & Paranormal Romance Novel Best Sellers 2025, #27 - Audible Top Ten Best Romantasy Listens of 2025 - Indigo Best Fantasy Books...
    By Devney Perry
    Paperback
    $6499
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Love Hypothesis
    The Love Hypothesis is the global phenomenon and debut novel from TikTok sensation, Ali Hazelwood. It is now available in a beautiful movie tie-in collector's edition featuring exclusive artwork from the Amazon movie starring Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman, plus two bonus chapters from Adam's point of view. As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic...
    By Ali Hazelwood
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Deal
    Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Deal now for the perfect fake-dating romance! She's about to make a deal with the college bad boy . . . Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns...
    By Elle Kennedy
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • I Hope This Email Finds You in Hell
    New Release
    I Hope This Email Finds You in Hell
    What could go wrong on a road trip to Hell? ⭐ corporate hell vibes ⭐ only one bed ⭐ a road trip through the underworld ⭐ forced proximity ⭐ slow burn romance 'A delirious, clever romp of a book. Best time I've had with a book in ages!' JENNA LEVINE Brie Benson lives life in survival mode, right down to...
    By Mackenzie Reed
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Foxx
    New Release
    Foxx
    The third in a motorcycle dark romance series from self-published sensation and author of the beloved Silver Pines series, Paisley Hope. Aiden Foxx runs the Disciples of Sin motorcycle club with strict control and zero tolerance for weakness. A former Navy SEAL turned outlaw king, he lives by one rule - trust no one. Then Mia Tyler walks into his...
    By Paisley Hope
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Someday Garden
    New Release
    Lizzy's Pick Lizzy's Pick
    The Someday Garden
    The BRAND-NEW magical rom-com from Ashley Poston, bestselling author of The Seven Year Slip, now!💖 ‘Ashley Poston writes really beautiful love stories with just a sprinkling of magic’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Proud to say that I've never met an Ashley Poston book that wasn't a five-star read' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ * Sophie Drear never expected to fall in love. But over a summer in...
    By Ashley Poston
    Paperback
    $2000
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Tempting Venom
    New Release
    Tempting Venom
    Tempting Venom is the third in a dark hockey romance series from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Legacy of Gods series. When two ruthless enemies collide. My name is Preston Armstrong, and I'm the most depraved bastard you'll ever meet. I take what I want, ruin what I don't, and live exactly how I please....
    By Rina Kent
    Paperback
    $2299
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.

Romance lists from the team

Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!

The Latest at Book Hero

View all