Grace, 72, is a former maths teacher who has been left a house in Ibiza by old friend Christina. She loves maths for its logic and facts. There is a lot mentioned about maths theorems but I switched off when we got to "different sizes of infinity".

After losing her son Daniel when he was young and her husband Karl a few years ago, she suffers from anhedonia - not feeling anything at all. She has practically given up on life, so plans to have only a quick look at the house and then sell it.

Now comes the part that is kind of hard to explain. Apparently there is some otherworldly seagrass in the waters called La Presencia that gives people who it touches magical qualities like fortune telling, telepathy and telekinesis. It's really rather bizarre but it utterly transforms Grace and gives her back the will to life as well as the will and power to fight some malevolent property developer who wants to destroy the beautiful landscape.

I have to admit that this is a bit out there even for me, and I was totally happy with the concept of a man living hundreds of years because of another condition with a funny name that means he ages slower than normal people.

Matt Haig is one of my favourite writers. How to Stop Time is a book I (gasp) actually bought so I could yellow highlight the best passages. I don't have that urge here but I still very much like his writing style of truncated sentences and very short chapters. One chapter, titled "All The Clever Ideas Presently in Alberto's Head" is actually empty, LOL.

This book is also a love letter to Ibiza, "that magical, mystical, multifarious island in the Mediterranean which always defies any preconceived perceptions."

His overriding topic in all his books is the appreciation of life. Matt Haig battles with depression and has once tried to commit suicide. I believe he tries to invoke hope and the joy for life in all his readers by giving us uplifting, life-affirming stories, with a dash of magic.

"Life sings and blazes. Even when we are numb to it, when we hide from it, when it is too loud and painful to experience, when we aren't equipped to feel it - it is there, waiting, to be cherished and protected, ready to give us at least one more blast of beauty before the night."