An interesting premise but the books is rather slow and the text a little turgid. It did not really appeal as an author to follow.

Matt Haig has quickly become one of my favourite authors somehow. Personally, I think he has a wonderful way with words, and with picking out the smallest of details in the everyday life and then twisting it into a fantastical plot point that really illustrates, as they say in Hamilton, “how lucky we are to be alive right now”. I was anticipating this book pretty highly so getting an eARC of it via NetGalley was like a dream come true. Basically the main character Tom has a condition which means that he ages suuuuper slowly, like he’s lived throughout centuries of history, and met some pretty interesting characters along the way (William Shakespeare and F Scott Fitzgerald included). But obviously the drawback of ageing super slowly is that everyone else around you, your nearest and dearest, will die before you do, and you will go through losing them, and then having to rebuild another life with the weight of this inevitable mortality on your shoulders. I like these kind of stories (the interrogation of this concept is what fascinates me about the likes of Doctor Who) so I was always going to go into this book with fondness but I truly loved the experience of reading it.

Tom Hazard has lived for a long time; through wars, diseases, witch-hunts, the discovery of new worlds and beyond. Tom has a condition called 'Anageria' which prolongs the ageing process. Born in the 1500's Tom, at the age of thirteen, began to age approximately one year to every fifteen years of your everyday human. Both a blessing and a curse, his long life has taken so much from him. He has lived many lives, been plenty of different people and seen the evolution of humanity. Over the centuries he has been searching the globe for his missing daughter Marion, a reminder of his first life and his first love Rose, and he is getting nowhere. Moving back to London, to where it all started, Tom has chosen to become a history teacher to confront the many ghosts of his past.

How To Stop Time is a bold novel that makes the reader consider every aspect of humanity. Matt Haig does this with every novel he writes but I think HTST is the pinnacle of his work on the human condition. MH has a truly unique writing style that burrows deep in your senses. His writing is personal, intuitive, metaphysical, philosophical and complex. This kind of writing challenged me in every way and I certainly feel better off having read the novel. MH observes the world with old eyes. Playing on all the pain and hope, peace and war, old and new that is present in all eras of life. The narrative takes us through the though the centuries, seeing it all though Tom's eyes.

The main plot is centred around modern day London and Tom's search for Marion. It also jumps back and forth between key moments in Tom's past. I was amazed at the depth that MH included in every storyline. Tom was recruited by the Albatross Society in the 1800's, a secret society of individuals who all live with Anageria, and he gets to choose any life he wants as long as he takes part in recruitment of other 'albas'. I enjoyed the plot, I thought it was varied and impacted me enough to continue reading consistently all the way through. I also thought the variations in characters and their standpoints on life made for an profound read. Living for what seems like an eternity has significantly different effects on each individual.

Choosing London to be closer to his past. Tom becomes a history teacher as he has lived through it all. I loved this concept and MH does a superb of bringing to life so many key characters of recent centuries. Tom meets a whole cast of key individuals, including Shakespeare, Captain Cook and F. Scott Fitzgerald. MH does also focus on the atrocities of the past, with witch-hunts, war and disease playing a big part in the narrative.

If you have read MH before then you probably get what I am trying to convey. If you haven't then I would recommend starting with one of his other novels. The Humans is a good place to start. How To Stop Time is no doubt his most intense novel. It is brilliant but I definitely felt psychologically exhausted by the end of the novel. The past sections are heavy and laden with tragedy, adventure and pain. The present day sections are certainly easier to digest, I was glad for the breaks, and they are more contemplative and pensive. Each episode of the story adds a new angle to the life that Tom has led all the way to the dramatic and meaningful finale.

There are a plethora of themes to suit all styles of reader; Tragedy, hope, moving on from the past, love, family, parenthood and identity. I wouldn't say that How To Stop Time is suitable for young readers. Dark themes like death, violence and suffering are present but not overly abundant. Tom is ravaged by time, suffering from memory headaches (a great concept), the intense pain of so many lives fighting for space in his thoughts. MH uses Tom's story to ask the reader to consider whether living forever is really the answer or will we just repeat the same mistakes and pitfalls repeatedly. Is it easier just to live in the moment and be content with ordinary life?

Overall I have given How To Stop Time 5/5 stars because Matt Haig never fails to blow my my mind. The Humans was a quirky and brilliant read but How To Stop Time took that sense of humanity to the next level. I am constantly in the need for challenging writing and Matt Haig delivers every time. He is certainly one of the most daring and potent modern writers and I can't wait to see where he takes his work next.

How to Stop Time is the story of Tom Hazard, a man with a rare medical condition which means that he ages at a much slower rate than most people. He is over 400 years old and has seen things that people have only read about in books. However, his condition puts I’m in danger - danger from scientists, eugenicists, by people who just couldn’t understand. So whilst Tom tries to hide under the radar - not make friends, not fall in love but this proves impossible when he gets a new job in a secondary school.

How to Stop Time is a time travel novel that meets a historical one. We travel through time with Tom Hazard and we meet a cast of historical figures from Shakespeare to F Scott Fitzgerald. At its heart, it is a story about relationships and how we need to keep people close to use regardless of the cost.

If I am completely honest I am not a huge fan of fantasy novels and How to Stop Time didn’t float my boat the way I wanted it to. I love Matt Haig’s writing - in particular his non fiction/mental health books so I worry that maybe his fiction is not for me. How to Stop Time is written well but the genre as a whole is one that I tend to avoid.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig is available now.

For more information regarding Matt Haig (@MattHaig1) please visit his Twitter page.

For more information regarding Canongate Books (@canongatebooks) please visit www.canongate.co.uk.

I don’t think I’m smart enough to review How To Stop Time. I finished it last week and I’m still finding it pretty impossible to form my thoughts on it into coherent sentences, because this is the kind of epic, literary novel which is beautifully written but almost went over my head and then smacked me in the forehead and gave me a little bit of a headache.


Following Tom Hazard, How To Stop Time focuses on the concept of albas – short for albatrosses – which is a code word for people who age extremely slowly. Tom only looks in his late-twenties, but he’s actually been alive for over 400 years (he said his ratio is 1:15; for every 15 years he lives, he looks like he ages one).

Tom is a member of the Albatross Society, which means every eight years he gets a new name and moves to a new place to avoid people getting suspicious about his lack of aging. When we join Tom he decides he wants to move back to London – the place where he fell in love and lost his love hundreds of years ago – so he can start teaching and try to track down his long (long!) lost daughter.

This book certainly wasn’t what I expected, as it was marketed as ‘a love story across the ages’ and I had expected romantic love rather than familial love. I actually think I enjoyed this more because of the fact that it focused so heavily on Tom’s desperation to find his daughter: she is like him, but she runs away before he can learn that about her and he has always sworn that he’ll make it up to her someday.

I really enjoyed this book, despite the fact that my brain had to work extremely hard to keep on top of everything. Tom’s memory begins overwhelming him, so he suffers with flashbacks intruding into his lessons and debilitating migraines. The intrusive nature of the flashbacks is written brilliantly – Tom will be halfway through talking and his words will spark some long forgotten scene from his past into flooding back – and it effectively shows the major downsides to living to be 400. I also feel as though I learnt a lot about what Britain (and London in particular) has been like throughout the ages.

The only thing that stopped me giving this book five stars was the ending. It’s extremely abrupt and doesn’t feel that satisfying compared to the rest of the novel. There’s not really a good way to finish a story like this, but something about it wasn’t exactly to my taste. That being said, there’s apparently going to be an adaptation starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and I can’t wait to see how they translate a novel like this to the big screen.

How do you stop time and live only in a time you want to last forever? Unfortunately Tom, the protagonist, doesn't know. Not only that but in a way he has been cursed by having to live in many other times, centuries of them, not bad times, but not that one perfect 'when'.
Tom is an 'Albatross' not immortal but he lives a very, very long time. If an average human life is seventy years, he can expect to see over a thousand.
The story takes us to visit many famous places and people, (William Shakespeare anyone?), explores what can happen and what we can enjoy, but also what we can lose. Throughout the book the enduring theme is that Rose, his love, died. Evocatively it puts into the story the truest meaning of Freddy Mercury's 'Who wants to live forever.... ...oh when love must die'
Then, of course, it answers the question.

After enjoying Matt Haig's children's fiction, I was excited to read this one, especially when I read the premise. It did not disappoint and fuelled my love for the author.

A thought provoking and feel good novel. I wondered at the beginning if the premise of Tom ageing extremely slowly and living through history would get in the way, but there actually comes a point where you accept what is happening to him as a given and get involved in the more sinister aspects of The Albatross Society and the failings of human nature in general. A book to make you want to stop, look around and appreciate who is with you and what is happening in your life right now, instead of worrying about all life’s imponderables.

I am currently purchasing books for our secondary school library for our senior students. I am trying to provide a balance of genres and periods and really try and introduce them to a wide range of modern fiction and non-fiction. This book would definitely go down well with a hypercritical teenage audience as it has a bit of everything - great insights and a narrative style that draws you in and keeps you reading whilst also making you think about a wide range of issues at the same time. I adore Matt's writing and feel that it's my duty to make sure that young people get to meet him on the page as soon as possible. I think that school libraries are definitely changing and that the book we purchase should provide for all tastes and reflect the types of books that the students and staff go on to enjoy after leaving school. HTST is the kind of book that you can curl up with and totally immerse yourself in and I think it will definitely go down well at my school. I think that it was the perfect blend of A page-turning read with a strong narrative voice too! I think it would be a big hit with our seniors and will definitely recommend that we buy a copy as soon as we can.

Brilliant novel with a nearly immortal protagonist struggling to find meaning in a life that just keeps stretching on. I really love this author's writing and this is a great book that I'm recommending widely.

I've always loved Matt Haig's books, but found this one a little underwhelming. The ideas behind it are inspired, and I particularly liked the encounters with figures from history, but I found the story's telling really difficult to take to and only settled after something of a struggle with the first third. I was always particularly aware of the voice of the author rather than Tom himself, who never entirely engaged or convinced me, and I just didn't care enough. Just not the book for me, I think...

(Review shared only on Goodreads)

I love Matt Haig's books and have done since The Radley's. Matt is a champion for mental health issues and has helped thousands of people feel not so alone with his books over the years, How To Stop Time is a story about hope and love and has the heart-warming factor I love in a book. A lovely book that makes you stop and think.

Full review to follow on blog.

A magical book, completely transformative. I can see myself recommending it to older children I work with. It catches you unaware- you don't think it will be nearly as touching as it is. I'm not a science fiction fan, not when it comes to books anyway, but I feel with this one, Matt Haig has defied the genre.

'I walk briskly away from the house, then the street, wishing I could just as easily walk away from the past.' [pg. 22]

This is a story about the nature of people, the world, through time. It's told by a narrator and protagonist, Tom Hazard, a man who has lived to witness centuries of history in the making. So much so, that he has become rather annoyed with the repetition of the days before him!

But even if you don't have a passion for history, as I do, there is more to this incredible story. Ultimately we are dealt honest lessons of love, loss and friendship experienced by a tortured soul struggling to find purpose and craft an authentic identity, while keeping the secret of his long past guarded. A man obligated to 'play' within the boundaries that come with having too much time. The biggest order is to not fall in love. Love means danger. It's a risk, it asks for too much. But surviving, without really feeling alive, just might be the greatest risk of all.

I received this book through Netgalley.

Having previously read, and loved, The Humans, I was keen to read another of Matt Haig's books.

I found this one to be more of a "grower", than a book that hooks you from the start, but the idea of humans among the population that age very slowly (as opposed to those who age too quickly) is certainly an intriguing one.

Matt Haig has a way of getting down to the essentials of what it means to be a human being that is very touching and deeply emotional.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am not ashamed to say I shed a tear at the end, (a bit awkward in the optician's waiting room!), just as I did at the end of The Humans.

Ever reliable Matt Haig is a master of crafting a good story line. Great characters with real emotional engagement. Always a pleasure to pick up one of his books. Really funny in parts too.

Plot: Tom Hazard might appear to be a normal man, but he has a secret: he’s much older than you think. Part of the “Albatross Society”, he one of very few people around the world who ages far slower than the average, meaning he’s over 500 years old and has started his life over many, many times to hide this secret. There’s only one rule: he cannot fall in love.

My thoughts: Given the plot I’ve outlined above, I’m sure you can tell where the story goes with this one – of course, Tom did fall in love, and as a result, there’s something that he clings to throughout his long, long life.
I found the premise of the book fascinating. It’s one that’s not entirely new, but was done really quite well. Reading about a character surviving and thriving through various era. At the current time, he’s a history teacher who enjoys making his subject come alive for his students using his far better knowledge than anyone else. In the past, he’s worked at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and met F. Scott Fitzgerald in Paris. These encounters really do add some interest to a story that could otherwise drag, although it occasionally had that feel of “name dropping” that these type of novels often get.
I really liked Tom’s character and the description of his bittersweet life and struggles. It was a good read – one I enjoyed a lot but didn’t absolutely love. Still a good recommendation.

Magical. As is everything that Matt Haig writes. Very different to his usual narrative, this wonderful fantasy tale takes you back to major events in history through the eyes of Tom Hazard, who's on a mission to find the love of his life & falling in love with being alive again. Touching, emotional and honest. As usual Matt manages to portray the beautiful things about being a human in this vulnerable & addictive novel.

Tom has lived for four centuries but still looks forty. He’s currently a history teacher in East London, but he’s had many other occupations and has lived in many other places during his long life. A fault in his genes means he is, if not quite immortal, then something fairly close to that – and it’s a trial and a burden. The premise may not be completely original, and I didn’t find the ending entirely successful, but, hey, Matt Haig’s skill is that he manages to wrestle with the big themes of love, life and death while still being light and accessible, and this is absorbing, moving and fun.

I read this book a few months before it was published. I enjoyed it, but didn't feel like it was the amazing title everyone else then thought it was once it was published. I totally understand why others liked it, but, although I didn't like the story as much, I still enjoyed all the periods through which Tom lives - even his friendship with Shakespeare. Maybe I've just read too many titles with the 'ouroboros' theme (although I am aware that the character in this title is not one). I would still recommend though.

When I picked up this book, I really had no idea what to expect. As many of you know, I hardly ever read the book blurb or description

I am the kind of person who reads the title and take a gamble on the book...hoping by Jove it would be worth my time

As this is the first work of fiction I am reading this year, I hoped I would be amused

When I read at the beginning of the book that the main character (Tom Hazard) has been alive for over 400 years because of a rare condition, I rolled my eyes

Surely this book was not fixing to be a cross between Vampire stories and Dracula

I was quickly proved wrong by the 2nd chapter

Tom's loneliness is almost tangible. He's lived all these years and learned not to form attachments because of all the death he's seen around his.

First, his parents died by the hands of over zealous christians/ witch hunters; then his wife died from the plague. He had to leave his daughter when she was young...only to find our she's been alive all these hundreds of years.

Then he is discovered by a secret society of people like him. They call themselves albatross (albas for short). The albas protect their members from being discovered and exploited or even killed by normal human beings. However there is a catch. Every 8 years, the albas have to change their identity and location to prevent discovery.

Would Tom ever find his daughter? Can he keep up with changing his identity every so often?

Matt Haig writes in an intriguing and insightful way...keeping the reader in suspense until the very end