Before Your Memory Fades
The Japanese TikTok favourite that will break your heart
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- €6.99
Publisher Description
The third book in the multi-million-copy bestselling series about a cosy Japanese cafe that offers its visitors the chance to travel back in time.
The heart-warming Before Your Memory Fades, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot, explores the age-old question: what would you do if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last 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. 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 heartfelt story of lost souls hoping to take advantage of the cafe's time-travelling offer. Among some familiar faces, readers will also be introduced to:
The daughter who begrudges her deceased parents for leaving her orphaned
The comedian who aches for his beloved and their shared dreams
The younger sister whose grief has become all-consuming
The young man who realizes his love for his childhood friend too late . . .
Featuring Kawaguchi's signature wistful storytelling, Before Your Memory Fades is full of heart and emotion.
Catch up on the rest of the series set in the charming Tokyo cafe, with Before the coffee gets cold, Tales from the cafe, Before we say goodbye and Before we forget kindness.
**Before I knew I loved you, the sixth book in the series, is available to pre-order now!**
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The third mosaic novel in Kawaguchi's Before the Coffee Gets Cold series (after Tales from the Café) is melancholy and uplifting by turn. This installment moves north of Tokyo to Hakodate on Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's main islands. There, in Café Donna Donna, customers can travel to the past following very specific rules: they must sit in a certain chair, they cannot leave the café and can only interact with past moments that have taken place within its walls,, and they must finish their coffee before it gets cold or they'll be stuck in the café as a ghost. Four travelers decide to risk it anyway—The Daughter, The Comedian, The Sister, and The Young Man. Three of their four stories concern visiting those who are now dead and, though their actions in the past cannot impact the reality of the present, their conversations do change how they feel, leaving each with a more positive take on their situation. Kawaguchi reinforces the time travelers' lesson of living without regret by having the café patrons read and discuss the fictional book What If the World Were Ending Tomorrow: One Hundred Questions. Meanwhile, the beautiful backdrop of Hakodate creates a lovely atmosphere. Readers looking for a nudge to live life to its fullest will find one here.
