Before we forget kindness A novel

The fifth in the globally beloved, best-selling Before the Coffee Gets Cold series is another familiar balm, gently translated again by Trousselot. Kawaguchi introduces another four visitors to Tokyo's time-traveling café, Funiculi Funicula, while updating the lives of the caring staff and the regular customers, who are often ready with (unsolicited) advice. The rules haven't changed. The most important are that the woman in the white dress must vacate her seat (yes, ghosts need the toilet, too) before the temporal seeker can commence their traveling opportunity (into the past or future), where they must finish drinking the coffee before it's cold. This latest quartet features the precocious seven-year-old son of divorced parents who would like not to cry when his parents first announce their separation, a grieving widow who wants her late husband to name their newborn daughter, an estranged father and daughter hoping to make confessional amends, and a woman who longs to apologize to her former best friend. Formulaic these volumes may be, but the hopeful do-over potential provides irresistible, feel-good rewards with each new chapter.

The gentle but poignant fifth light fantasy in Kawaguchi's Before the Coffee Gets Cold series (after Before We Say Goodbye) returns to Tokyo's Café Funiculi Funicula. Run by the Tokita family, this otherwise unassuming café has one major draw: any customer who sits in one particular seat can travel in time, as long as they return before their cup of coffee gets cold. Each series installment comprises stories following different customers and the people with whom they hope to have one last conversation. This time around, readers meet a young boy trying to come to terms with his parents' divorce ("The Son"); a new mother whose husband was killed before he could meet and name their infant daughter ("The Nameless Child"); a woman who eloped without her father's blessing and now needs his forgiveness ("The Father"); and two best friends driven apart by painful romantic secrets ("The Valentine"). The focus on regret and grief makes this a heart-wrenching outing, but kindness and empathy still shine through in Kawaguchi's characters. Readers will find comfort even as they reach for the tissues. Agent: Neil Gudovitz, Gudovitz & Co. (Nov.)