Tom suffers from a condition that makes him age very slowly - he is now 439 years old but looks to be in his early forties. It doesn't matter whether Tom meets celebrities in his long life or not - the really interesting parts are his struggle with a life that feels a curse, especially after he loses his wife and child and is more or less forced into the Albatross Society that was designed to help people with his condition of aging extremely slowly to avoid suspicion from people with normal lifespans, but over time feels like it's suffocating him. Then there are romantic entanglements and news about his long-lost daughter - but can he ever be free to love again in the face of Hendrich's society and his condition?

I love this book so much that I (gasp) bought it then gave it away in a book swap and treated myself to this beautifully illustrated version, then proceeded to yellow highlight all the good bits in it. For some people it's the Midnight Library, for me it's this one.

I think those with negative reviews simply don't understand the theme behind it - that we should embrace life and love, and live in the moment, not in the past or the future. You need to understand that Matt Haig suffers from depression and has once tried to kill himself. It's not a secret, he's quite open about it.

The prose is beautiful and the ending gets me tearful every time.

"I understand that the way you stop time is by stopping being ruled by it. I am no longer drowning in my past, or fearful of my future. How can I be? The future is you."