THE English translation of Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s fifth instalment in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series hits the shelves on November 5.
The Japanese series, including the latest release Before We Forget Kindness, takes place in a café where customers receive a cup of coffee that takes them back in time to speak to a special person in their lives.
However, they cannot change the past or leave their seat, and must return to the present ‘before the coffee gets cold’.
“You can’t go back in time and save someone who you lost because they died, it’s not going to happen,” Toshikazu said in an interview.
“I lost my dad when I was 10, and there’s no changing that. But I love to think if he could see me now, after all these years; I’ve become a novelist and I’m doing this, he would be so amazed and so happy. That would make me so happy. That’s the sort of change that you can achieve,” he added.
The books follow different visitors who seek to find closure and comfort by going back to the past.
The new addition is set to include a father who could not allow his daughter to get married, a woman who couldn’t give Valentine’s Day chocolates to her loved one, and a boy who wants to show his smile to his divorced parents.
The books is translated by Geoffrey Trousselot. Other titles in the series include Tales from the Cafe, Before Your Memory Fades, and Before We Say Goodbye.