The following edition of the text was used in the creation of this study guide: Haig, Matt. The Life Impossible. Canongate, 2024. Kindle AZW file.

Maurice, a 22-year-old man, emails his former math teacher, Grace Winters, after learning she moved to Spain. He shares that his mother recently died, leaving him struggling to care for his sister and feeling trapped in a predetermined life. Grace replies, saying she has experienced something that changed her perspective and wants to share her story with him. She recounts her life in Lincoln, UK, where she was still grieving her son Daniel’s death in a bike accident 20 years earlier. After her husband Karl passed away and she lost her savings in a scam, she was left alone and broke in her 70s.

Grace received a letter informing her that Christina van der Berg, a former colleague, had died and left her a house in Ibiza. Grace barely remembered Christina but recalled inviting her over for Christmas decades earlier, encouraging her to follow her dreams of becoming a singer. Christina had left Grace the house in gratitude for this act of kindness. After speaking to a solicitor, Grace learned Christina had died at sea under unclear circumstances. She decided to visit Ibiza.

Arriving at the house, Grace found it small and run-down. Inside, she saw photos of Christina’s life, a book on clairvoyance, and an olive jar filled with water, which she emptied. She discovered a letter from Christina advising her on where to go and whom to meet, urging her to trust what happens. The letter unsettled Grace, as it implied Christina had known she would die. Grace struggled to sleep and went to the kitchen, where she saw the olive jar partially refilled with water, despite having emptied it earlier. She visited a grocery store where a cashier, Rosella, recognized her and revealed that Christina had predicted her arrival. Rosella mentioned Christina’s past as a fortune teller, her marriage to a Dutch man named Johan, and their daughter, Lieke, now a DJ. She also said Christina loved diving and suggested Grace try it. Back at the house, Grace noticed a new yellow flower in the yard and found the olive jar completely full again. Searching online, Grace learned about Christina’s past as a singer and activist and discovered that Alberto Rias, a scientist who was friends with her, had been discredited for his belief in aliens. On Alberto’s diving company website, she spotted the St. Christopher necklace she had given Christina years ago, now lying in the seagrass. Grace reported this to the police, but they dismissed her concerns and warned her to stay away from Alberto.

At the market, Grace met Sabine, who said Christina’s fortune readings were uncannily accurate. Sabine believed Christina had foreseen her own death but didn’t know who would kill her. She suspected Alberto Rias held the truth. Grace visited Alberto’s beachside diving office. He urged her to dive with him at midnight, claiming it would change her life. The next night, she met Alberto at the beach, and they dived to the seagrass, which began to glow. The light touched Grace, transporting her to a strange beach. She woke up in the hospital, where she inexplicably knew the doctor’s name and could hear her thoughts. Alberto warned her that brain scans would reveal unexplainable changes and urged her to leave, but she refused. To prove his abilities, he predicted small events before they happened. Confused and skeptical, she followed Alberto out of the hospital.

Back at the house, she experienced heightened sensations and psychic abilities, though she continued to question them. She met Christina’s daughter, Lieke, who invited her to her DJ set at a club called Amnesia. At a restaurant, Grace used her powers to make a rude man stab himself with a fork. Alberto explained that all humans have untapped psychic abilities, which La Presencia, the light they saw in the seagrass, awakens. His own powers had faded, but Grace’s were strong.

Alberto took Grace to a church, where she unlocked a door with her mind. Inside, he showed her an old manuscript by Francisco Palau. Grace experienced the book’s events firsthand. In 1855, Francisco sailed to Es Vedra, off the coast of Ibiza, where he saw a glowing light in the water. After falling from a cliff, the light healed him, and he swam through a hole in it, entering another world, similar to the one Grace had experienced.

Grace woke on the church floor, drained from envisioning Francisco’s journey. Alberto explained that Christina had attempted to escape death by traveling through La Presencia to another world he called Salacia. He showed Grace a video from Christina, who revealed she had left clues, like the necklace, to lure Grace to the truth. She asked Grace to use her powers to find her would-be killer. Angry, Grace accused Alberto of leading a cult and decided to leave Ibiza. At the airport, Grace read the thoughts of an airline worker. She then glimpsed a memory of Alberto’s terminal cancer diagnosis and changed her mind about leaving.

Grace and Alberto visited his daughter Marta, who was organizing a protest against a hotel development Christina had opposed. Marta received a message warning to cancel the protest. They suspected Art Butler, the developer, but Grace found she couldn’t read him. To learn more, they decided to track down politician Sofia Torres. At a bar, Grace read Sofia’s mind and saw Art Butler threatening her with his own psychic powers, hinting he had already killed a politician who opposed the project. Marta confronted Sofia, who dismissed the protest as futile unless twenty thousand people attended and they raised eighty thousand euros to cancel the plan.

Grace took Alberto and Marta to Amnesia, where they got in thanks to Lieke, Christina’s DJ daughter. Grace enjoyed the music and the crowd. During her set, Lieke spoke about her mother and urged everyone to attend the protest and spread the word online. After leaving the club, Grace led them to a casino to win the €80,000 needed to stop the hotel project. She succeeded at roulette and poker, using her psychic abilities—until she found herself facing Art Butler. Winning multiple rounds, she enjoyed the game, while Art grew furious. Suddenly, Marta collapsed—Art was strangling her with his mind. He then made everyone in the casino faint, leaving only himself, Grace, Alberto, and Marta conscious. Alberto released water from La Presencia, which rushed to Marta and revived her. Defeated, Art fled.

The next day, the protest drew far more than 20,000 people. At the press conference, just as Grace and Alberto were about to pay Sofia, Art accused Grace of cheating, leading the casino to threaten to confiscate the money. Grace collapsed and had a vision of speaking to her dead son Daniel in Salacia. He reassured her his death wasn’t her fault and urged her to let go of guilt. Waking on the beach, Grace used her powers to summon all of Ibiza’s animals, who attacked Art. Unable to control them, he was bitten by a snake, releasing La Presencia’s light from his body. He chased it into the sea, where he was stung by a jellyfish and died.

Grace finishes her story in an email to Maurice, offering him her bungalow in Lincoln, hoping it will change his life as hers had been changed by the gift of the house from Christina. The novel ends with Maurice replying, his tone suggesting he believes her story—and that he plans to visit her in Ibiza.