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Matt Haig was born in Sheffield in 1975 and grew up in Nottinghamshire. He has lived in London and Spain, and now lives in north Yorkshire. His writing has frequently appeared in the UK press. He is the author of The Last Family in England, a UK bestseller narrated by a Labrador, The Dead Fathers Club, an update of Hamlet featuring an eleven-year-old boy and The Possession of Mr Cave. He has also written two children's novels, Shadow Forest, and its sequel The Runaway Troll.
Matt Haig on his teen novel, The Radleys:
"This is a story about growing up, first and foremost. About how we learn to come to terms with who we are, independent of the ideas our parents had for us. About how we decide our own identities. As well as what shapes those identities - who we choose to love, and hate, admire and fear. It is about how denying ourselves can sometimes be more dangerous than succumbing to tempation. This is the story I wanted to tell. I never set out to write a vampire story, but vampires were the obvious choice. After all, as family secrets go, you can't get much bigger than finding out you are actually a full-blown creature of the night. And hopefully it fits as a metaphor for teenage life. A life full of physical changes, forbidden cravings, and feelings of being an outsider. In that sense, we've probably all been vampires at some stage."
Author photo © Clive Doyle
The world is messing with our minds. Rates of stress and anxiety are rising. A fast, nervous planet is creating fast and nervous lives. We are more connected yet feel more alone. And we are encouraged to worry about everything from world politics to our body mass index. How can we stay sane on a planet that makes us mad? How do we stay human in a technological world? How do we feel happy when we are encouraged to be anxious? After experiencing years of anxiety and panic attacks, these questions became urgent matters of life and death for Matt Haig. And he began to look for the link between what he felt and the world around him. Notes on a Nervous Planet is a personal and vital look at how to feel happy, human and whole in the 21st century.
'I am old. That is the first thing to tell you. The thing you are least likely to believe. If you saw me you would probably think I was about forty, but you would be very wrong.' Tom Hazard 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. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover - working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he'd never witnessed them first-hand. He can try to tame the past that is fast catching up with him. The only thing Tom must not do is fall in love.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FEEL TRULY ALIVE? Aged 24, Matt Haig's world caved in. He could see no way to go on living. This is the true story of how he came through crisis, triumphed over an illness that almost destroyed him and learned to live again. A moving, funny and joyous exploration of how to live better, love better and feel more alive, Reasons to Stay Alive is more than a memoir. It is a book about making the most of your time on earth. I wrote this book because the oldest cliches remain the truest. Time heals. The bottom of the valley never provides the clearest view. The tunnel does have light at the end of it, even if we haven't been able to see it ...Words, just sometimes, really can set you free.
Do you: Know a human?; Love a human?; Have trouble dealing with humans? If you've answered yes to any of the above, this book is for you. Whether you are planning a high level of human interaction or just a casual visit to the planet, this user-guide to the human race will help you translate their sayings, understand exotic concepts such as 'democracy' and 'sofas', and make sense of their habits and bizarre customs. A phrase book, a dictionary and a survival guide, this book unravels all the oddness, idiosyncrasies and wonder of the species, allowing everyone to make the most of their time on Earth.
April 2014 Book of the Month. It’s incredibly difficult to say anything about The Humans other than to encourage you to read it for yourself to discover how utterly delightful, enjoyable and fascinating it truly is. Having solved an equation too powerful for us to know, aliens intercede to kill Professor Andrew Martin and send a shapeshifter in his place whose contempt for humanity gradually turns to love. It is a stunning book that everyone should read. A 2014 World Book Night selection.
May 2013 Book of the Month. A funny and touching exploration into what it is to be human. After solving the world’s greatest mathematical riddle Professor Andrew Martin is found naked walking on a motorway after having had a spectacular mental breakdown... after such a high, normal life seems pointless and people he once loved repulsive. The latest novel from the continually surprising author of TV Book Club hit of 2011 The Radleys.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award 2011. I am told the vampire craze is on the wane to be replaced by zombie books but the great thing about vampires is they are human and none more so than Matt Haig’s Radleys, an abstaining vampire family with two teenagers who are not having the greatest time at school. The girl gets pestered by an over zealous boy and she bites him … Things change rather dramatically then as she slowly discovers her roots. Mum and Dad have a fair bit of explaining to do and then a ‘wicked’ uncle appears on the scene. This is well thought out, humorous, highly compulsive and a pure delight Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 7 Aug 2011. The Lovereading view... Dripping in blood, this is a story of family secrets so terrible that they shouldn’t be uncovered...Rowan and Clara think they are ordinary teenagers. They live quietly with their ordinary Mum and Dad doing all the things that their friends do. But, the Radley parents are hiding a secret; they are abstaining vampires and, one day, their abstinence will fail. Rowan’s teenage anxieties and sense of being an outsider take on a whole new dimension in this insight story of adolescence with a difference.This is the Young Adult version of the title. Click here for the original edition.A message from the author:"This is a story about growing up, first and foremost. About how we learn to come to terms with who we are, independent of the ideas our parents had for us. About how we decide our own identities. As well as what shapes those identities - who we choose to love, and hate, admire and fear. It is about how denying ourselves can sometimes be more dangerous than succumbing to tempation. This is the story I wanted to tell. I never set out to write a vampire story, but vampires were the obvious choice. After all, as family secrets go, you can't get much bigger than finding out you are actually a full-blown creature of the night. And hopefully it fits as a metaphor for teenage life. A life full of physical changes, forbidden cravings, and feelings of being an outsider. In that sense, we've probably all been vampires at some stage."
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011. Shortlisted for the Galaxy Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award 2011. I am told the vampire craze is on the wane to be replaced by zombie books but the great thing about vampires is they are human and none more so than Matt Haig’s Radleys, an abstaining vampire family with two teenagers who are not having the greatest time at school. The girl gets pestered by an over zealous boy and she bites him … Things change rather dramatically then as she slowly discovers her roots. Mum and Dad have a fair bit of explaining to do and then a ‘wicked’ uncle appears on the scene. This is well thought out, humorous, highly compulsive and a pure delight. Voted the Best Summer Read by the TV Book Club viewers. Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 7 Aug 2011. The Lovereading view... Rowan and Clara think they are ordinary teenagers. They live quietly with their ordinary Mum and Dad doing all the things that their friends do. But, the Radley parents are hiding a secret; they are abstaining vampires and, one day, their abstinence will fail. Rowan’s teenage anxieties and sense of being an outsider take on a whole new dimension in this insight story of adolescence with a difference. A message from the author:"This is a story about growing up, first and foremost. About how we learn to come to terms with who we are, independent of the ideas our parents had for us. About how we decide our own identities. As well as what shapes those identities - who we choose to love, and hate, admire and fear. It is about how denying ourselves can sometimes be more dangerous than succumbing to tempation. This is the story I wanted to tell. I never set out to write a vampire story, but vampires were the obvious choice. After all, as family secrets go, you can't get much bigger than finding out you are actually a full-blown creature of the night. And hopefully it fits as a metaphor for teenage life. A life full of physical changes, forbidden cravings, and feelings of being an outsider. In that sense, we've probably all been vampires at some stage.
FROM THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHORPhilip Noble is 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 declares Uncle Alan murdered him. Arming himself with weapons from the school chemistry cupboard, Philip vows to carry out the ghost's relentless demands for revenge. But can the words of a ghost be trusted any more than the lies of the living?
THE ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF MATT HAIG'S SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Tom Hazard 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. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover - working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he'd never witnessed them first-hand. He can try to tame the past that is fast catching up with him. The only thing Tom must not do is fall in love. How to Stop Time is a wild and bittersweet story about losing and finding yourself, about the certainty of change and about the lifetimes it can take to really learn how to live. This special Illustrated Edition features over fifty enchanting line drawings by the award-winning artist Chris Riddell
If magic has a beginning, can it also have an end?When Amelia wants a wish to come true she knows just the man to askFather Christmas.But the magic she wants to believe in is starting to fade, and Father Christmas has things other than impossible wishes to worry about: upset elves, reindeer dropping out of the sky, angry trollsand the chance that Christmas might be cancelled.Amelia isnt just any ordinary girl, though. And as Father Christmas is going to find out, if hes going to save Christmas, he might just need some help . . .
"e;If somewhere in the afterlife Roald Dahl met Charles Dickens and they cooked up a new Christmas tale, it couldn't have much on this fleet, verbally rambunctious, heart-stealing follow-up to A Boy Called Christmas."e;The New York Times Amelia Wishart was the first child ever to receive a Christmas present. It was her Christmas spirit that gave Santa the extra boost of magic he needed to make his first trip around the world. But now Amelia is in trouble. When her mother falls ill, she is sent to the workhouse to toil under cruel Mr. Creeper. For a whole year, Amelia scrubs the floors and eats watery gruel, without a whiff of kindness to keep her going. It's not long before her hope begins to drain away. Meanwhile, up at the North Pole, magic levels dip dangerously low as Christmas approaches, and Santa knows that something is gravely wrong. With the help of his trusty reindeer, a curious cat, and Charles Dickens, he sets out to find Amelia, the only girl who might be able to save Christmas. But first Amelia must learn to believe again. . . .';Matt Haig has an empathy for the human condition, the light and the dark of it, and he uses the full palette to build his excellent stories.' Neil Gaiman, Newbery-winning author ofThe Graveyard Book"e;With a little bit of naughty and a lot of nice,this Christmastime yarn is a veritable sugarplum."e; Kirkus Reviews
LET THE BATTLE FOR CHRISTMAS BEGIN It isn't always easy, growing up as a human in Elfhelm, even if your adoptive parents are the newly married Father Christmas and Mary Christmas. For one thing, Elf School can be annoying when you have to sing Christmas songs every day - even in July - and when you fail all your toy-making tests. Also it can get very, very cold. But when the jealous Easter Bunny and his rabbit army launch an attack to stop Christmas, it's up to Amelia, her new family and the elves to keep Christmas alive. Before it's too late . . .
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, the search for Amelia - and the secret of Christmas - begins . . .
Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but he was born in 1581. Owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. From Shakespeare's England to jazz age Paris, Tom has seen it all. Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom now has the perfect cover - working as a history teacher. The only thing Tom mustn't do is fall in love... The first rule is that you don't fall in love. Because otherwise, of course, you slowly lose your mind.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE 2017 BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARD FOR POPULAR FICTION Tom Hazard 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. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover - working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he'd never witnessed them first-hand. He can try to tame the past that is fast catching up with him. The only thing Tom must not do is fall in love. How to Stop Time is a wild and bittersweet story about losing and finding yourself, about the certainty of change and about the lifetimes it can take to really learn how to live.
'I am old. That is the first thing to tell you. The thing you are least likely to believe. If you saw me you would probably think I was about forty, but you would be very wrong.' Tom Hazard 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. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover - working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he'd never witnessed them first-hand. He can try to tame the past that is fast catching up with him. The only thing Tom must not do is fall in love.
BELIEVE IN THE IMPOSSIBLE A lavish, boxed set containing Matt Haig's magical Christmas classics in hardback - A Boy Called Christmas and The Girl Who Saved Christmas. This special limited edition slipcase is beautifully illustrated by Chris Mould and makes the perfect gift for children aged 7 and above, and for anyone who still believes in Father Christmas A BOY CALLED CHRISTMAS This is the true story of Father Christmas. It is a story that proves that nothing is impossible. THE GIRL WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS When Amelia wants a wish to come true she knows just the man to ask - Father Christmas. But the magic she wants to believe in is starting to fade, and Father Christmas has more than impossible wishes to worry about. Upset elves, reindeer dropping out of the sky, angry trolls and the chance that Christmas might be cancelled. But Amelia, isn't just any ordinary girl. And - as Father Christmas is going to find out - if Christmas is going to be saved, he might not be able to do it alone . . .
NARRATED BY STEPHEN FRY You are about to hear the true story of FATHER CHRISTMAS . . . If you believe that some things are impossible, you should walk away right now. (Because this story is FULL of impossible things.) Are you still there? Good. Then let us begin . . .
NARRATED BY CAREY MULLIGAN JOURNEY TO THE EDGE OF MAGIC When Amelia wants a wish to come true she knows just the man to ask - Father Christmas. But Father Christmas has more than impossible wishes to worry about. Upset elves, reindeer dropping out of the sky, angry trolls and the chance that Christmas might be cancelled. If Christmas is going to be saved, he might not be able to do it alone . . .
2018 Odyssey Honor 2018 ALSC Notable Children's RecordingBefore there was Santa Claus, there was a young boy who believed in the impossible. . . . Lemony Snicket meetsElfin this warmhearted Christmas caper. Eleven-year-old Nikolasnicknamed ';Christmas'has received only one toy in his life: a doll carved out of a turnip. But he's happy with his turnip doll, because it came from his parents, who love him. Then one day his father goes missing, and Nikolas must travel to the North Pole to save him. Along the way, Nikolas befriends a surly reindeer, bests a troublesome troll, and discovers a hidden world of enchantment in the frozen village of Elfhelm. But the elves of Elfhelm have troubles of their own: Christmas spirit and goodwill are at an all-time low, and Nikolas may be the only person who can fix thingsif only he can reach his father before it's too late. . . . Sparkling with wit and warmth, A Boy Called Christmasis a cheeky new Christmas classic-in-the-making from acclaimed author Matt Haig and illustrator Chris Mould."e;Irresistibly readable. Destined to become a Christmas and anytime-before-or-after-Christmas classic!"e; --Chris Grabenstein,New York Timesbestselling author ofEscape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library';The definitive (and funny) history of ho, ho, ho! My children loved it.' Yann Martel, bestselling author ofLife of Pi ';The most evergreen, immortal Christmas story to be published for decades.' Stephen Fry"e;Humorous and heartfelt,A Boy Called Christmaswill grow your heart three sizes and make you believe in magic."e; --Liesl Shurtliff,New York Timesbestselling author ofRump"e;Matt Haig has an empathy for the human condition, the light and the dark of it, and he uses the full palette to build his excellent stories.'Neil Gaiman, Newbery-winning author ofThe Graveyard Book
BELIEVE IN THE IMPOSSIBLE You are about to read THE TRUE STORY OF FATHER CHRISTMAS If you are one of those people who believe that some things are impossible, you should put this book down right away. (Because this book is FULL of impossible things.) Are you still reading? Good. Then let us begin...
