The rules of time travel are the same (among which are the fact that nothing can change the present and the time traveler needs to return to the present before the specially brewed coffee served to him/her gets cold) and the time-traveling chair is only available when its occupant (the ghostly figure of an elderly gentleman) temporarily leaves his seat. Nagare’s mother, Yukari who owns and runs the café is currently traveling, leaving Nagare and Kazu to fill in. However, unlike the first two books of the series which were set in Café Funiculi Funicula in Tokyo, we meet Nagare and Kazu along with her seven-year-old daughter Sachi at Café Donna Donna in Hakodate. The other person might not be thinking anything, but there is a tendency to just assume what the other is feeling without reaching out and asking.”īefore Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (translated by Geoffrey Trousselot), Book #3 in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold Series takes us back to a special café where customers can embark on a journey to a different time. “People’s true feelings are not in plain sight. Tracy Hwang is a bookseller at Readings Emporium.My Rating : 3.5⭐ (Audio Narration 4/5 Book: 3/5)

Like its predecessors, Before Your Memory Fades is the perfect cosy read to tuck into when life feels a little darker, prompting us to think about life’s true value and what to do with ours while we still have the chance. Instead, they remind us of sentiments we often know deep down but forget in our day-to-day lives. While the messages of his stories are often simple truths such as ‘we should live without regrets’, they are told in a way that never feels cliché. What I enjoy about this series is Kawaguchi’s gentle, uncomplicated look at life. What this allows is brief, often final, conversations with loved ones. To do so, they must follow certain rules – the most important being that they must drink their coffee before it gets cold if they wish to return to the present. Like its Tokyo counterpart, Donna Donna allows patrons to travel back in time. In this instalment, we’re transported from the Tokyo café that fans of the series know and love, Funiculi Funicula, to its sister café, Donna Donna in Hokkaido. Set seven years after the events of the second book, and this time at a new cafe, Before Your Memory Fades breathes new life into the series while retaining Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s trademark warmth and charm. The third book in the bestselling Before the Coffee Gets Cold series is finally here.

Before your memory fades