Healing Fiction

Long popular in Japan and Korea, these books—feel-good novels with elements of magical realism—are taking off in translation.

This list includes titles that are available digitally as an e-book, an e-audiobook, or both.

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Updated November 13, 2024
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Before the coffee gets cold : a novel
Kawaguchi, Toshikazu 1971-
Paper Book
*NOW AN LA TIMES BESTSELLER* *AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER* The first book in the five million-copy bestselling magical realism series If you could go back in time, who would you want to meet? ...
Tales from the cafe : a novel
Kawaguchi, Toshikazu 1971-
Paper Book
From the author of the international bestseller Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this book follows four new customers who hope to travel back in time in a little Japanese café. In a back alley in Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more...
What you are looking for is in the library : a novel
Aoyama, Michiko
Paper Book
For fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, a charming, internationally bestselling Japanese novel about how the perfect book recommendation can change a readers' life. What are you looking for? So asks Tokyo's most enigmatic librarian. For Sayuri Komachi is...
The cat who saved books : a novel
Natsukawa, Sōsuke
Paper Book
Grandpa used to say it all the time: books have tremendous power. But what is that power really? Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro...
The Kamogawa Food Detectives
Kashiwai, Hisashi/ Kirkwood, Jesse (TRN)
Paper Book
The Kamogawa Food Detectives is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese series, for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. What's the one dish you'd do anything to taste just one more time? Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto...
The restaurant of lost recipes
Kashiwai, Hisashi
Paper Book
We'll prescribe you a cat
Ishida, Syou
Paper Book
Tucked away in an old building at the end of a narrow alley in Kyoto, the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul can only be found by people who are struggling in their lives and genuinely need help. The mysterious clinic offers a unique treatment to those who find their way there: it prescribes cats as...
Marigold Mind Laundry
Yun, Chŏng-ŭn (Writer)
Paper Book
The NEXT irresistibly uplifting read for fans of BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD set in a magical laundry The #1 International word-of-mouth bestseller Heartwarming and inspirational, MARIGOLD MIND LAUNDRY will remind you there is always a reason to feel positive
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
Hwang, Po-rŭm
Paper Book
**AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER** WATERSTONES BEST FICTION BOOKS OF 2023 PICK WOMAN & HOME NOVEMBER BOOK OF THE MONTH iPaper TOP FICTION PICK 'An absolutely charming novel that all bookworms will adore' Red
The Dallergut Dream Department Store : a novel
Yi, Mi-ye
Paper Book
Days at the Morisaki bookshop : a novel
Yagisawa, Satoshi
Paper Book
" The wise and charming international bestseller and hit Japanese movie--about a young woman who loses everything but finds herself--a tale of new beginnings, romantic and family relationships, and the comfort that can be found in books. Twenty-five-year-old Takako has...
The lantern of lost memories
Hiiragi, Sanaka
Paper Book
" From acclaimed Japanese author Sanaka Hiigari comes a heartwarming, life-affirming novel about a magical photo studio, where people go after they die to view key moments from their life--and relive one precious memory before they pass into the afterlife. ...

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