Half a Life is a 2001 novel by Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul published by Alfred A. Knopf.

Having come to despise his father for giving him a split identity, Willie leaves India to go to 1950s London to study.

Willie receives a letter from Ana, a mixed Portuguese and black African girl, who admires his book, and they arrange to meet.

The novel ends with Willie having moved to his sister's place in Berlin after his 18-year stay in Africa.

Half a Life is a prequel to Naipaul's 2004 novel Magic Seeds which starts with Willie in Berlin.