Canongate all aboard Matt Haig's latest, The Midnight Train
Canongate has got on board with Matt Haig’s latest novel The Midnight Train, a "sibling, not a sequel" to his global hit, The Midnight Library (2020). Canongate publisher-at-large Francis Bickmore acquired world rights to the book from agent Clare Conville at C&W.
The Midnight Train is a standalone new novel and will be published in May 2026 by Canongate in the UK, Viking in the US, HarperCollins in Canada and Droemer in Germany.
The synopsis reads: "When your life flashes before your eyes, where would you stop? No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there. The chance to relive the moments that meant most. To see what kind of person you really were. For Wilbur, his best days were with Maggie, the love of his life. On his honeymoon in Venice. Before he gave it all away. He wishes he could go back and live differently. But to do so risks everything."
Haig said: "This is a story that was personal to me. It is about the biggest subject I could think of – how we live our lives. The spark was the fact that after our body dies, our brain stays active for a little while. And I thought about what could actually happen, as your life flashes by.
"It is related to The Midnight Library in lots of ways, but also very different in others. Both novels are about regret, and how we deal with them, and both stories speculate on the fringes of life and death. But The Midnight Train is a standalone story – a sibling, not a sequel."
Ahead of Frankfurt Book Fair, Canongate licensed translation rights in Brazil (Record), France (Editions Leduc), Italy (Edizioni E/O), the Netherlands (Uitgeverij Lebowski), Norway (Gursli Berg Forlag) and Spain (AdN/Anaya). On Tuesday (14th October), more than 40 of Haig’s international publishers met with the author to discuss his new novel and plan his publications for 2026 and beyond.
Bickmore said: "The Midnight Train is pulling into bookshops next May and everyone at Canongate is over-the-moon excited. Matt Haig’s time-travelling love story will twist your mind and melt your heart. It might also make you seriously reassess your life. After the truly global phenomenon that was The Midnight Library, it’s thrilling to be returning to Haig’s fantastical Midnight World."
Conville said: "A fantastic heart-stopping ride of a book about the choices we make, the regrets we hold and the power of love to change our lives. Once I had stepped aboard The Midnight Train I couldn’t get off and I cried all the way through to the last chapter with recognition, relief and hope."
