Before the Coffee Gets Cold By Toshikazu Kawaguchi

What would you change if you could travel back in time? In a small, hidden café in Tokyo, there exists a legendary chair that offers its occupants the chance to do just that—but with strict, peculiar rules. You cannot leave the chair, you cannot change the present, and you must return before your coffee gets cold. Through four interconnected stories, Toshikazu Kawaguchi's internationally bestselling novel explores the lives of patrons who choose to sit in that chair: a woman hoping to confront the lover who left her, a wife waiting for a letter from her husband whose memory is fading, a sister desperate to see her sibling one last time, and a daughter longing to meet the mother she never knew. A heartfelt, moving, and subtly profound exploration of regret, reconciliation, and the human condition, this celebrated Japanese bestseller asks whether we truly need to change the past to find peace in the present.