Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe

The second book in the multi-million-copy bestselling series about a cosy Japanese cafe that offers its visitors the chance to travel back in time.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s heartwarming Tales from the Cafe explores the age-old question: what would you do if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?

Down a small back alley in Tokyo, in a windowless basement lit only by ceiling lamps, is the Cafe Funiculi Funicula. Amongst the familiar faces, four new customers pay a visit. Each hopes to face up to their past, in order to move on with their lives:

– The man who goes back to see his best friend who died 22 years ago
– The son who missed his own mother’s funeral
– The man who travels to see the girl who he could not marry
– The old detective, with a gift for his late wife . . .

But they must follow the rules. They must sit in a particular seat. They cannot leave the cafe. And they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

Continue the heartwarming storytelling with Before your memory fades, Before we say goodbye, Before we forget kindness and Before I knew I loved you. Translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot.