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Tales from the Cafe

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

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Tales from the Cafe

By: Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot - translator
Narrated by: Kevin Shen
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About this listen

The million-copy bestselling series.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s heartwarming Tales from the Cafe, 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?


In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a cafe 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, 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 tale tells the story of people who must face up to their past, in order to move on with their lives.

Continue the heartwarming storytelling with Before Your Memory Fades, Before We Say Goodbye and Before We Forget Kindness - all out now!

©2020 Toshikazu Kawaguchi (P)2020 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd
City Life Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Magic Magical Realism Science Fiction Time Travel Urban

Critic Reviews

With his smooth, pleasant voice, Shen channels the heartwarming and thought-provoking ambiance of the special Cafe Funiculi Funicula in Tokyo, which allows visitors to travel back in time under very specific rules. As is the case with the first book, there are four heart-tugging connected stories that explore life’s challenges and delve deeply into the characters. Shen provides unique voices and renders a wide range of emotions with depth, connecting listeners with people who seem like old friends. - WINNER OF AUDIOFILE EARPHONES AWARD
All stars
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I love the author and their storytelling, however I struggled to get through this audiobook, as I did not like the choice of narrator. He is too expressive and gruff for a story that is so slow and soft. I wish the rest of the series was narrated by the narrator of the first book, Arina Ii. I really want to finish the series but with this narrator it will be very hard to do.

Wonderful story, don't care for the narration

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A thoughtful tale gently exploring the stories of each character who visits the cafe with a desire to travel back in time to confront something that has troubled from their past. Beautifully written, with words that make you reconsider your own life and count your blessings.

A Beautiful Tale

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This is awful and juvenile just a pale shadow of the first which was an original and charming story.

Should have stopped at original

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