Before the Coffee Goes Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

A basement café in Tokyo provides a refuge of sorts for a variety of regular customers, as well as the three people who work there – Kumi and couple Nagare and Kei. But it is more than this; urban legend says it is possible to go back in time there. There are strict rules and great risks and the experience will not change the present, but many people want to try it. This is an intriguing concept, executed in a series of vignettes that detail each different kind of time travel experience and how it affects the traveller. Deep issues are touched on – dementia, family dysfunction, a dangerous pregnancy, but not explored in any actual depth. It is a slim book, but a slow read, possibly due to the translation; it takes a long time to get a sense of the characters and the shape of the story, which is nevertheless quite predictable.