Before we say goodbye A novel

Why mess with a good thing when it delivers such poignant delight? Kawaguchi's fourth installment of his internationally best-selling Before the Coffee Gets Cold series returns to Tokyo's time-traveling café, Funiculi Funicula. Its proprietor, Nagare, and his cousin Kazu, who spent the previous tale, Before Your Memory Fades (2022), in Hokkaido, welcome back their city regulars, who resemble an ad hoc chorus of witnesses, including nurse Nana and past traveler Fumiko. Nagare has since lost his beloved wife, who left behind adorable Miki. The group this time features a 67-year-old globetrotting archaeologist whose long-suffering wife lies in a coma; a woman whose boyfriend promised to wait even after she refused his marriage proposal; and a daughter who regrets her last meeting with her widowed father, who died three days later in the Tōhoku disaster. A four-footed family member makes his debut in the second section (admittedly the collection's most satisfyingly weepy) about a woman desperate to see her beloved dog one final time. Geoffrey Trousselot again translates, providing the gift of anglophone access to all of Kawaguchi's heart-balming charm.

"There is a curious urban legend about a particular seat in a certain town's coffee shop. Apparently, if you sit on that seat, it will take you back in time to whenever you wish." Kawaguchi's fourth entry in the Before Your Coffee Gets Cold series (after Before Your Memory Fades) returns to this fabled time-traveling café seat in four sweet, interconnected short stories. Though café patrons are forewarned that nothing they do in the past will change the future, they still choose to travel back in time for closure and catharsis. In "The Husband," professor Monji Kadokura goes to see his wife before the accident that left her in a vegetative state, while in "The Farewell," Sunao Hikita, who blames herself for her dog's death, gets to see the pooch one last time. Hikari Ishimori confronts the ex-boyfriend whom she nearly married in "The Proposal," and Michiko Kijimoto apologizes to her estranged father before his death in "The Daughter." The mystical curiosity of the café's existence, only hinted at in each segment, acts as mere background for literary, character-driven storytelling. The result is an examination of love and regret in four acts, written in fluid, dreamlike prose. Simple, sentimental, and profound, this is sure to scratch the itch for series fans. Agent: Neil Gudovitz, Neil Gudovitz & Co. (Nov.)