Before Your Memory Fades - (Before the Coffee Gets Cold) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Hardcover)

About the Book

"From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe comes another story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafâe Funiculi Funicula's time-traveling offer. Along with some familiar faces from Kawaguchi's previous novels, readers will also be introduced to a daughter, a comedian, a sister and a lover, each with something they wish they had said differently"--

Book Synopsis

The third novel in the international bestselling Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, following four new customers in a cafe where customers can travel back in time.

On the hillside of Mount Hakodate in northern Japan, Cafe Donna Donna is fabled for its dazzling views of Hakodate port. But that's not all. Like the charming Tokyo cafe Funiculi Funicula, Cafe Donna Donna offers its customers the extraordinary experience of travelling through time.

From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe comes another story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of the cafe's time-travelling offer. Among some familiar faces from Toshikazu Kawaguchi's previous novels, readers will also be introduced to:

• A daughter who begrudges her deceased parents for leaving her orphaned
• A comedian who aches for his beloved and their shared dreams
• A younger sister whose grief has become all-consuming
• A young man who realizes his love for his childhood friend too late

Translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot and featuring signature heart-warming characters and wistful storytelling, in Before Your Memory Fades, Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?

Review Quotes

Praise for the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series

"Endearing." --New York Times Book Review

"Heartwarming, quirky, and wistful." --Huffpost

"The narrative is deeply moving." --Chicago Review of Books

"Kawaguchi...has a surprising, unerring ability to find lasting emotional resonance. Interwoven into what initially feels like a whimsical escape are existential conundrums of love and loss, family and freedom, life and death." --Christian Science Monitor

"This charmingly magical novel is about discovering happiness despite the pasts that we desperately want to revisit." --The Harvard Crimson

"Kawaguchi has found a unique way to manipulate such a commonly used trope as time travel and has captured the power of joy as a legacy." --Library Journal

"The book's resonating charm provides lasting emotional balm." --Booklist

Praise for Before Your Memory Fades

"Kawaguchi's comforting and thought-provoking book is perfect reading for cold winter nights."--Library Journal
"[A] mosaic novel... Readers looking for a nudge to live life to its fullest will find one here."--Publishers Weekly