Tales from the Café by Toshikazu Kawaguchi – feel good time travel contemporary

Tales from the Café is a heartwarming, poignant, and feel-good time-travel contemporary, filled with endearing characters and a cozy, magical setting.

Previous Book in the Series-

Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Book 1)

Synopsis

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time…

From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes a story of four new customers each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula’s time-travelling offer.

Among some faces that will be familiar to readers of Kawaguchi’s previous novel, we will be introduced to:

The man who goes back to see his best friend who died 22 years ago
The son who was unable to attend his own mother’s funeral
The man who travelled to see the girl who he could not marry
The old detective who never gave his wife that gift…

This beautiful, simple tale tells the story of people who must face up to their past, in order to move on with their lives. Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?

Review

Tales from the Café is a cozy and heartwarming sequel to Before the Coffee Gets Cold, set approximately six years after the events of the previous book.

Welcome back to Café Funiculi Funicula, a place where people can time travel—though not without following five strict and somewhat frustrating rules. Like its predecessor, Tales from the Café features four stories presented in chronological order: Best Friend, Mother and Son, The Lovers, and The Married Couple. These tales explore themes of struggle, bereavement, guilt, regrets, redemption, and ultimately, hope and happiness. While all the stories are compelling, my favorite was The Married Couple.

The simple yet evocative writing, the touching character arcs, the cozy café setting, and the enchanting aroma of coffee made this book a comforting read. The rules of time travel are reintroduced, though not as thoroughly as in the previous book. This repetition, as characters and the coffee pourer recount the rules in each story, occasionally felt redundant.

Some familiar details about the café are revisited, but there are also delightful new tidbits. For example, we learn the name of the café’s ghost, discover that the clocks displaying the wrong time were unsuccessfully repaired, and gain insights into the coffee beans used at the café. Additionally, we get a deeper look into the coffee pourer who facilitates these time-travel journeys.

Each story features characters with unique and emotional reasons for revisiting the past, and they are all deeply moving. What stood out most to me was the recurring connection to Kazu’s mother and the exploration of Kazu’s guilt. By the end of the book, it was profoundly satisfying to see Kazu come to terms with her feelings, let go of her guilt, and find happiness, which in turn brings peace to her mother’s ghost.

Overall, Tales from the Café is a heartwarming, poignant, and feel-good time-travel contemporary, filled with endearing characters and a cozy, magical setting.

Favorite Lines from the book

“We can never truly see into the hearts of others. When people get lost in their own worries they can be blind to the feelings of those most important to them.”

“Sometimes people will only confide in someone they trust, but other times they need the listener to be a complete stranger.”

“Seasons flow in a cycle.
Life too, passes through difficult winters.
But after any winter, spring will follow.”

Book Links

Goodreads | Amazon.in | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

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Just in case you missed,,,

• Tales from the Café by Toshikazu Kawaguchi – feel good time travel contemporary
• Dubai Diaries: A Week of Adventures and Stunning Sights
• My Way Series by Elizabeth Cole – beautiful and meaningful picture books for kids age 4+

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