Heartwarming, whimsical . . . offering comfort at a time when the world seems off-kilter and chaotic

The New York Times

The cosy, heartwarming first book in the multi-million copy bestselling series, presented in beautiful hardback.

What would you do if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time? Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold, translated from Japanese, explores this age-old question . . .

In a cosy back alley in Tokyo, there is a cafe which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

Prepare to meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the cafe’s time-travelling offer in order to:
- confront the man who left them
- receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by Alzheimer's
- see their sister one last time
- meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat. They cannot leave the cafe. And finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

‘This book broke my heart, took the pieces, and put them back together in a messy and beautiful way. . . ' - well.read.woman on Instagram

Continue the beautifully moving storytelling with Tales from the Cafe, Before Your Memory Fades, Before We Say Goodbye and Before We Forget Kindness.

**Before I knew I loved you, the sixth book in the series, is available to pre-order now!**

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A beautiful, moving story about a small Japanese cafe that offers its visitors the chance to travel back in time, to find an answer to the question: what would you do if you could go back? For fans of The Guest Cat and If Cats Disappeared from the World.
Read more
A beautiful, moving story about a small Japanese café that offers its visitors the chance to travel back in time, to find an answer to the question: what would you change if you could go back?

Product details

ISBN
9781035032280
Published
2023-10-03
Publisher
Pan Macmillan
Weight
296 gr
Height
206 mm
Width
138 mm
Thickness
26 mm
Age
00, G, 01
Language
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Number of pages
224

Translated by

Biographical note

Toshikazu Kawaguchi was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1971. He formerly produced, directed and wrote for the theatrical group Sonic Snail. As a playwright, his works include COUPLE, Sunset Song and Family Time. The novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold is adapted from a 1110 Productions play by Kawaguchi, which won the 10th Suginami Drama Festival grand prize. It was followed by Tales from the Cafe, Before Your Memory Fades, Before We Say Goodbye and Before We Forget Kindness.