“A quirky romcom dusted with philosophical observations….A delightfully witty…poignant novel.” —The Washington Post “She smiled a soft, troubled smile and I felt the whole world slipping away, and I wanted to slip with it, to go wherever she was going… I had existed whole years without her, but that was all it had been. An existence. A book with no words.” Tom Hazard has just moved back to … words.”
Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher. And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him. But Tom has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he’s been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history–performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.
Unfortunately for Tom, the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society’s watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can’t have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.
How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages—and for the ages—about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
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Matt Haig’s themes in How to Stop Time are, um, timeless: be fearless and vulnerable in love and life; eschew safety in favor of actually living in the world; take a stand against tyrants and manipulators; stick up for those less powerful; investment is a long game.
Loved this book, a couple of steps up from a ‘beach read.’ Unique story line that toggles back and forth between the present and the long past of a man who has lived for more than 400 years. There are wonderful snippets of history as he engages with famous historical figures, his philosophical musings, the scientific dilemma of whether or not to reveal the many people living with this condition – and a small bit of a love story. I highly recommend it!
I’ll read anything by Matt Haig.
Great insights from the perspective of a man who has lived over 400 years.
How to Stop TIme…is a profound read, in the sense that if we knew we had a long, long, long life, say a thousand years, would we be content? Especially if we had to keep our longevity a secret. Probably not! Tom Hazard isn’t a complicated man, but rather a confused individual that follows the rules of the Society…for better or for worse. In the end, it is his ability to love, not his long, experienced life, that helps him reveal the gift of time.
This is one of the best books I have read lately.
This book is like no other I have read–it is charming and funny, but at the same time it asks big questions about what it means to be alive. This was my first Matt Haig, and I can’t wait to dive into the rest of his work.
This was a sweet story. It wasn’t extremely suspenseful but the story was good enough to keep me coming back for more.