Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s poignant Before We Say Goodbye, translated from Japanese, 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?
The regulars at the magical Cafe Funiculi Funicula are well acquainted with its famous legend and extraordinary, secret menu time travel offering. Many patrons have reunited with old flames, made amends with estranged family, and visited loved ones. But the journey is not without risks and there are rules to follow. Travellers must have visited the cafe previously and most importantly, must return to the present in the time it takes for their coffee to go cold.
In the tradition of Kawaguchi’s sensational ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ series, readers are be introduced to a new set of visitors:
– The husband with something important left to say – The woman who couldn’t bid her dog farewell – The woman who couldn’t answer a proposal – The daughter who drove her father away . . .
In the hauntingly beautiful Before We Say Goodbye, Kawaguchi invites us to join his characters as they embark on a journey to revisit one crucial moment in time.
My Review:
Before We Say Goodbye is a beautifully written, heartwarming and emotional read that has stayed with me.
Firstly this was my first visit to this wonderful cafe and I loved finding out more about it as well as meeting some of the wonderful people there. The staff that work in the cafe are an interesting mix but they seem to truly care about their customers and want to help them with their problems. I found it fascinating to discover more about the rules for going back in time although it was quite poignant to realise that you would not be able to change the present by doing so.
In this book the reader follows four different people who want to try and go back in time to meet loved ones. I enjoyed the brief glimpse into their lives and learning more about what brought each of them to the cafe. Most of them want to go back to right a wrong in their past and I loved being able to follow them as they work through events that have been upsetting them. These moments were very emotional and I often found myself tearing up as I read about them working through their problems. While they can’t change the present it was lovely to see them get some closure or solutions to things, leaving them in a better place than they were before.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading the other books in the series soon. I found the idea behind the cafe interesting and I loved discovering more about the characters, who I had quickly grown fond of. Their stories were very heartwarming and thought provoking, packing an emotional punch despite being quite short in length. I often found I had to pause between stories as I needed to think more about everything that had happened.
This is the fourth book in the series but it can easily be read as a standalone like I have done as anything you need to know is explained.
About The Author:
Toshikazu Kawaguchi was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1971. He formerly produced, directed and wrote for the theatrical group Sonic Snail. As a playwright, his works include COUPLE, Sunset Song, and Family Time. The novel Before the coffee gets cold is adapted from a 1110 Productions play by Kawaguchi, which won the 10th Suginami Drama Festival grand prize.
Good afternoon everyone I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this last week for my spot on the blog tour at the end of this month. I love classic style murder mysteries and I heard lots of great things about this author’s first book so I’m very excited to read this.
Out 12th October 2023.
Huge thanks to the tagged publishers for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.
Book Synopsis:
Illusionist turned sleuth Joseph Spector investigates a sinister conundrum at a 1930s theatre in this thrilling new mystery novel from Tom Mead, author of Death and the Conjuror, one of Publishers Weekly’s Mysteries of the Year 2022.
1938, London. Young lawyer Edmund Ibbs has a new client: a woman accused of shooting her husband in the already infamous ‘Ferris Wheel Murder’ case.
The case proves to be a web of conspiracy, and Ibbs himself is accused when a second suspicious death occurs, during a magic act at the crowded Pomegranate Theatre.
Also present at the theatre is Joseph Spector, illusionist turned highly respected sleuth. Spector begins to investigate the mystery, but when another body is discovered later that same night, all evidence points to Ibbs being guilty.
With time against him, and a host of hangers-on all having something to hide, can Spector uncover the guilty party, or will he and Inspector Flint of Scotland Yard conclude that Ibbs is the culprit after all?
About The Author:
Tom Mead is a UK crime fiction author specialising in locked-room mysteries. He is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association and the International Thriller Writers’ Organization. His debut novel is DEATH AND THE CONJUROR, featuring magician-detective Joseph Spector.
Good morning everyone today on Two For Tuesday I’m featuring two books by Sophie Irwin.
I haven’t read either of these yet, yes I have bought the second book before reading the first, but I’ve heard great things about this series and I’m excited to read them soon.
Have you read either of these? Have you bought the second book in the series before reading the first?
A Lady’s Guide To Fortune Hunting
A Lady’s Guide To Fortune Hunting:
Kitty Talbot needs a fortune. Love is not required…
She’s got just twelve weeks to find a rich husband and save her sisters – and she must use every ounce of cunning and ingenuity she possesses to climb London society if she is to succeed.
The only person she can’t fool is Lord Radcliffe, who sees straight through her plans, and is determined to stop her at any cost.
There is not a day to lose and no one – not even a lord – will stand in her way…
A Lady’s Guide To Scandal
A lifetime of duty Widowed at just seven-and-twenty from her marriage of convenience, Eliza, now Countess of Somerset, is bequeathed a fortune, hers to keep – provided she can steer clear of scandal.
The promise of love The last thing she expects is to be torn between two very different men – a face from the past, whose loss she’s always mourned, and a roguish poet, who scorns convention.
A taste of freedom But a lady’s reputation is fragile and with jealous eyes on Eliza’s fortune, it will only take one whisper of gossip for her to lose it all…
Escape with the most delightful, historical romance of the year from the Sunday Times bestselling author Sophie Irwin!
About The Author:
Sophie has spent years immersed in the study of historical fiction, from a dissertation on why Georgette Heyer helped win World War Two, to time spent in dusty stacks and old tomes doing detailed period research when writing this book. Her love and passion for historical fiction bring a breath of fresh air and a contemporary energy to the genre. Sophie hopes to transport readers to Regency London, where ballrooms are more like battlegrounds.
A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting is Sophie’s debut novel and it has already sold in twenty territories worldwide.
Do you know what happened already? Did you know her? Did you see it on the internet? Did you listen to a podcast? Did the hosts make jokes?
Did you see the pictures of the body?
Did you look for them?
It’s been nearly a decade since the horrifying murder of sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson rocked Crow-on-Sea, and the events of that terrible night are now being published for the first time.
That story is Penance, a dizzying feat of masterful storytelling, where Eliza Clark manoeuvres us through accounts from the inhabitants of this small seaside town. Placing us in the capable hands of journalist Alec Z. Carelli, Clark allows him to construct what he claims is the ‘definitive account’ of the murder – and what led up to it. Built on hours of interviews with witnesses and family members, painstaking historical research, and most notably, correspondence with the killers themselves, the result is a riveting snapshot of lives rocked by tragedy, and a town left in turmoil.
The only question is: how much of it is true?
My Review:
Penance is an incredibly gripping, dark and gritty book that is unlike anything I’ve read before.
Firstly I thought this book was very well written as although it’s actually a fiction book, it’s written as if it’s a true crime book which makes the story seem very real. I often tried googling things from the book to find out more about it and only remembered that it was fake when a search brought up no matching results.
The story is told in sections, each part focussing on a different character and their side of the story. None of the characters are very likeable but as the story goes on and you find out more about their backgrounds I did start to feel a degree of sympathy for them. I went between being disgusted by their behaviour to wanting to try and help them at times. I think the characters do help highlight some of the problems teenagers may face and how little help they often get. It’s made me very nervous for my kids becoming teenagers.
The setting of this book is an interesting one and the author describes some of the town’s history alongside the murder investigation. It’s a town that has seen its fair share of ups and downs, including some very tragic events which helps build the atmosphere in the story as the reader is made to feel that anything can happen in this town.
Overall I thought this was a fantastic book that I’d definitely recommend to others. The book opens at the end, detailing the gruesome murders and quickly throws the children right into the story. I found it a very gripping read and there always seemed to be something happening to ensure I kept reading. The book is very dark, with vivid descriptions of the victim’s injuries which might not be to everyone’s tastes. The ending was interesting and although I was initially disappointed with how it ended, I’ve slowly grown to find it very clever as it has made me question everything I read.
Huge thanks to Tandem Collective for letting me take part in this read-along and for my copy of this book. I highly recommend it to all fans of crime fiction or thrillers. It would also make a great book club read as there would be lots to discuss but please check trigger warnings before reading.
About The Author:
Eliza Clark has relocated from her native Newcastle back to London, where she previously attended Chelsea College of Art. In 2018, she received a grant from New Writing North’s ‘Young Writers’ Talent Fund’. Her debut novel, Boy Parts, was released by Influx Press in July 2020, and it has since been Blackwell’s Fiction Book of the Year. In 2022, Eliza was chosen as a finalist for the Women’s Prize Futures Award for writers under thirty-five, and she was selected as one of Granta‘s Best of Young British Novelists in 2023.
Good morning everyone and happy Sunday. Here are some of the books I’ve added to my tbr pile this week:
❤️ Black Torn by Sarah Hilary * 🧡 Counting Lost Stars by Kim Van Alkemade 💛What You Are Looking For Is In The Library by Michiko Aoyama 💚The Fraud by Zadie Smith * 💙In Bloom by Eve Verde 🩵A Crime In The Land Of 7,000 Islands by Zephaniah Sole * 💜Evil Eye by Etaf Rum 🩷From A Far And Lovely Country by Alexander McCall Smith *
The books with stars next to them are books I’ve got from work either from the damages pile or proofs that work colleagues have kindly given me.
All the others are recommendations from my lovely book friends. Counting Lost Stars was from @acottageofbooks and Evil Eye from @bestbookforward so do go check out their reviews.
What was the last book you bought?
Black Thorn by Sarah Hilary
Blackthorn Ashes was meant to be their forever home. For the first six families moving into the exclusive new housing development, it was a chance to live a peaceful life on the cliffs overlooking the Cornish sea, safe in the knowledge that it had been created just for them.
But six weeks later, paradise is lost. Six people are dead. And Blackthorn Ashes is left abandoned and unfinished, its dark shadows hiding all manner of secrets.
One of its surviving residents, Agnes Gale, is determined to find out the truth about what happened. Even if that truth is deadlier than she could have ever believed possible . . .
Counting Lost Stars by Kim Van Alkemade
New York Times bestselling author of Orphan #8, Kim van Alkemade returns with a gripping and poignant historical saga in which an unmarried college student who’s given up her baby for adoption helps a Dutch Holocaust survivor search for his lost mother.
1960, New York City: College student Rita Klein is a pioneering woman in the new field of computer programming—until she unexpectedly becomes pregnant. At the Hudson Home for Unwed Mothers, social workers pressure her into surrendering her baby for adoption. Rita is struggling to get on with her life when she meets Jacob Nassy, a charming yet troubled man from the Netherlands who is traumatized by his childhood experience of being separated from his mother during the Holocaust. When Rita learns that Hitler’s Final Solution was organized using Hollerith punch-card computers, she sets out to find the answers that will help Jacob heal.
1941, The Hague: Cornelia Vogel is working as a punch-card operator at the Ministry of Information when a census of Holland’s population is ordered by the Germans. After the Ministry acquires a Hollerith computer made in America, Cornelia is tasked with translating its instructions from English into Dutch. She seeks help from her fascinating Jewish neighbor, Leah Blom, an unconventional young woman whose mother was born in New York. When Cornelia learns the census is being used to persecute Holland’s Jews, she risks everything to help Leah escape.
After Rita uncovers a connection between Cornelia Vogel and Jacob’s mother, long-buried secrets come to light. Will shocking revelations tear them apart, or will learning the truth about the past enable Rita and Jacob to face the future together?
What You Are Looking For Is In The Library by Michiko Aoyama
What are you looking for?
So asks Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi.
But she is no ordinary librarian.
Sensing exactly what someone is searching for in life, she provides just the book recommendation to help them find it.
In this uplifting book, we meet five visitors to the library, each at a different crossroads:
– The restless retail assistant eager to pick up new skills – The mother faced with a demotion at work after maternity leave – The conscientious accountant who yearns to open an antique store – The gifted young manga artist in search of motivation – The recently retired salaryman on a quest for newfound purpose
Can she help them find what they are looking for?
The Fraud by Zadie Smith
Truth and fiction. Jamaica and Britain. Who gets to tell their story? Zadie Smith returns with her first historical novel.
Kilburn, 1873. The ‘Tichborne Trial’ has captivated the widowed Scottish housekeeper Mrs Eliza Touchet and all of England. Readers are at odds over whether the defendant is who he claims to be – or an imposter.
Mrs Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her novelist cousin and his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects England of being a land of façades, in which nothing is quite what it seems.
Andrew Bogle meanwhile finds himself the star witness, his future depending on telling the right story. Growing up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica, he knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realise.
Based on real historical events, The Fraud is a dazzling novel about how in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what’s true can prove a complicated task.
In Bloom by Eve Verde
A deeply affecting novel, In Bloom tells of strength, survival, forgiveness, resilience and determination, and the fierce love and unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters.
Delph has kept herself small and quiet as a form of self-protection, ever since the love of her life Sol’s untimely death left her pregnant and alone at the age of twenty-four. Theirs was such a once-in-a-lifetime love, that the loss of her soulmate broke her heart ‒ and almost broke her, too.
Years on, Delph’s protective bubble bursts when her daughter Roche moves out of the flat Delph shares with her partner Itsy and in with her estranged nan, Moon. Now that it’s just the two of them, the cracks in Delph and Itsy’s relationship begin to grow. Feeling on the outside of the bond between her fierce-yet-flaky tarot-reading mother and volatile martial-arts-champion daughter, Delph begins questioning her own freedom.
Is her life with Itsy all it seems? And has keeping small and safe truly been her choice all these years…?
A Crime In The Land Of 7,000 Islands by Zephaniah Sole
A Crime In the Land of 7,000 Islands is a powerhouse crime thriller fused with folk tales and the influence of anime. This psychological literary fiction tells the tale of Ikigai Johnson, a Special Agent working out of the FBI’s Portland, Oregon field office, who pledges to bring justice to children abused by a monstrous American in the Philippines. Amidst an expertly accurate police procedural, Ikigai recounts her tale to her eleven-year-old daughter through fantastical allegory. Her story exposes the damage that arises from exploitation, inequality, and generational trauma. Exploring the nuances of criminal justice, it enacts the battle between our courage and our submission to fear. It is an important call to act against evil.
Evil Eye by Etaf Rum
The powerful and poignant new novel from the author of the much-loved A Woman is No Man.
Raised in a conservative Palestinian family in Brooklyn, Yara thought she would finally feel free when she married a charming entrepreneur. Now, she has a good job at the local college, and balances that with raising her two daughters and taking care of their home. Yara knows that her life is more rewarding than her mother’s – so why doesn’t it feel like enough?
After Yara responds to a colleague’s racist provocation, she is put on probation at work and must attend mandatory counselling. Her mother blames a family curse for Yara’s troubles, and while Yara doesn’t believe in superstitions, she still finds herself growing increasingly uneasy about falling victim to the same mistakes as her mother.
Yara’s carefully constructed world begins to implode and suddenly she must face up to the difficulties of her childhood, not fully realising how that will impact not just her own future, but that of her daughters too.
From A Far And Lovely Country by Alexander McCall Smith
The twenty-fourth book in the multi-million copy bestselling and perennially adored No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.
If you are the founder and Managing Director of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency you may expect complete strangers to approach you with their problems when they see you having dinner with your husband in a peri-peri restaurant. And if you are Precious Ramotswe, you are a kind and helpful person who will be willing to take on a quest to find the relatives of a man who, many years ago, left the country for the uncertainties and dangers of a distant conflict.
While that is going on, though, there may be other things that claim your attention – such as the shocking news that a club that calls itself the Cool Singles Evening Club is encouraging married men to pretend to be single and meet women under false pretences. Who can be behind such a distasteful venture? Mma Ramotswe shows great tact in dealing with this situation, and avoids harm to the innocent.
And all the time, she and her assistant, Grace Makutsi, are getting on with their normal lives – which, of course, include birthdays and the buying of birthday presents. A new dress makes a fine present, but not if, when being tried on, it splits in a way that is thought to be irreparable. Mma Potokwani has dealt with situations far worse that, and in dealing with this local emergency she shows her characteristic wisdom. At the end of the day, disaster is averted. Life in Botswana, that far and lovely country of the title, continues smoothly, which is what Mma Ramotswe and her friends want – and most certainly deserve.
Good morning everyone and happy Saturday! I realised a few days ago I hadn’t done a spell the month challenge yet this month.
S- Someone You Know by Erin Kinsley E- Eleven Liars by Robert Gold P- Penance by Eliza Clark T- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett E- Evil Eye by Etaf Rum M- Midnight by Amy McCulloch B- Bellies by Nicola Dinan E- Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia Of Faeries by Heather Fawcett R- (Fair) Rosalie by Natasha Solomons
I couldn’t find a book beginning with R so had to cheat a little. I also messed up and missed out the ‘M’ first time, only realising when my ten year old son pointed it out.
We’re having a quiet day today. The youngest two are going swimming with their dad and my eldest wants to walk to the supermarket on his own for the first time. I’m not sure about this but he’s determined to try. I’ll have to resist the urge to follow him the whole way….
Good morning everyone! I was lucky enough to get a copy of Child Of The Ruins by Kate Furnivall this week.
Kate has long been one of my favourite authors and I’m always intrigued by books set after the war as it’s an area I don’t know much about. I’m very excited to read this book soon as it sounds brilliant!
Huge thanks to Emily from Hodder and Stoughton for my copy of this book. Out 31st October 2023.
Do you like historical fiction? What’s your favourite era to read about?
Book Synopsis:
People are disappearing. I spoke to my neighbour yesterday, we laughed at some nonsense, and today he is gone. We only discovered he was missing because the dog wouldn’t stop howling and we all knew he would never leave his beloved pet. So I am careful, extremely careful.
Two families divided by war. An entire city on the edge of disaster.
‘I was blown away not just by the gripping story, which had my heart thumping at times, but the sheer eloquence of writing. It is a story of the strength of the human spirit, and of love which will not be defeated. I know I will be recommending it to everyone’ LESLEY PEARSE
1948, Berlin. World War II has ended and there is supposed to be peace; but Russian troops have closed all access to the city. Roads, railway lines and waterways are blocked and two million people are trapped, relying on airlifts of food, water and medicine to survive. The sharp eyes of the Russian state police watch everything; no one can be trusted.
Anna and Ingrid are both searching for answers – and revenge – in the messy aftermath of war. They understand that survival comes only by knowing what to trade: food; medicine; heirlooms; secrets. Both are living in the shadows of a city where the line between right and wrong has become dangerously blurred.
But they cannot give up in the search for a lost child …
About The Author:
Kate Furnivall didn’t set out to be a writer. It sort of grabbed her by the throat when she discovered the story of her grandmother – a White Russian refugee who fled from the Bolsheviks down into China. That extraordinary tale inspired her first book, THE RUSSIAN CONCUBINE. From then on, she was hooked.
Kate is the author of ten novels, including THE SURVIVORS, THE RUSSIAN CONCUBINE, THE LIBERATION and THE BETRAYAL. Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages and have been on the Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller lists.
After an uneventful Friday at the Dublin office, Cathal faces into the long weekend and takes the bus home. There, his mind agitates over a woman named Sabine with whom he could have spent his life, had he acted differently. All evening, with only the television and a bottle of champagne for company, thoughts of this woman and others intrude – and the true significance of this particular date is revealed. From one of the finest writers working today, Keegan’s new story asks if a lack of generosity might ruin what could be between men and women.
My Review:
So Late In The Day is a short, gripping novel that manages to fit a lot into 60 pages.
The novel opens with the main character Cathal at work where it quickly becomes apparent that he is upset about something though the reader doesn’t initially know what. It soon clear that he’s morning the loss of a women called Sabine. Over the rest of the book the reader is given a snapshot of their relationship as the author explains some of the ins and outs of their relationship.
Cathal is an interesting main character and one that I found fascinating to get to know over the course of the book. I started off feeling a lot sympathy for him as it’s obvious he’s very upset about something but as the book goes on I started to dislike him as his I learnt more about him. I loved Sabine although she doesn’t feature as much in the book. She seemed such a free spirit and I loved her approach to cooking. It’s definitely made me want to visit a farmers market and attempting to cook again.
I thought this was a beautifully written book which I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved the way the character’s personality and background is slowly revealed to the reader which made me keep changing my opinion on the characters and what might have happened. It is a short book at just over 60 pages but a lot is fitted into those pages making it a very satisfying read. I’ve kept thinking about it long after reading and I have had to keep going back to re-read certain parts of it.
If your after an intriguing, character driven short read I highly recommend this one.
About The Author:
Claire Keegan’s stories are translated into more than thirty-five languages. Antarctica won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Walk the Blue Fields won the Edge Hill Prize for the finest collection of stories published in the British Isles. Foster won the Davy Byrnes Award and in 2020 was chosen by The Times as one of the top fifty works of fiction to be published in the twenty-first century. Small Things Like Thesewas shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Rathbones Folio Prize, awarded for the best work of literature, regardless of form, to be published in the English language. It won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, the Ambassadors’ Prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
Good morning everyone I’m taking part in the Small Book September Challenge I’ve seen doing the rounds on Instagram. The idea is to choose small books under 300 pages that you’d like to read this month. It’s a great way to clear some of the books from your tbr and read some of those great books I’ve been meaning to read to read for a while.
❤️So Late In The Day Claire Keegan
🧡Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
💛 Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
💚Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo
💙POD by Laline Paul
🩵The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
💜What You Are Looking For Is In The Library by Michiko Aoyama
All of these books where recommended to me by book friends and I’m excited to read them soon. I found it interesting that most of these where translated fiction which I hadn’t thought of before.
I’ve got my first review from this stack on my blog later today so do look out for that!
I’ve tagged a few people on Instagram who might want to take part but, as always, no pressure.
Good morning everyone and happy Wednesday! I’m on the Tandem Collective Read-along for the fabulous Penance by Eliza Clark at the moment and one of their creative challenges is to show a stack of your favourite thrillers.
I must admit I’ve cheated slightly here as this is actually a stack of my favourite thriller writers as I haven’t read any of these books yet but I’ve loved all of their previous books.
I honestly think Penance is going to be one of my favourite thrillers ever as it’s just so good! It’s really gripping and reads like a non fiction book, meaning I often try to Google things before realising it’s actually fiction!
Over The Rainbow Blog 