Read this when
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
You can go back in time. You just can't change anything, and you have to drink the coffee before it gets cold. So what would you say? ☕
Who it's for
In a small Tokyo café, customers can travel in time if they follow strict rules: they must sit in one seat, can't leave it, can't change the present, and must return before their coffee goes cold.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Toshikazu Kawaguchi's novel, adapted from his 2010 play and published in 2015 (English translation by Geoffrey Trousselot, 2019), is set in a small Tokyo cafe, Funiculi Funicula, where customers can travel in time from one special seat. Strict rules apply: the present cannot be changed, only certain people can be met, and travellers must return before their coffee gets cold.
Where to find it
In print (Picador in the UK, Hanover Square Press in the US); widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla) and as an audiobook. Not public domain.
Before you start
Heads up: A sibling's death and early Alzheimer's.
Age: Ages 12+
The stream of truth flows through its channels of mistakes.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, no. 243
