Fantasy

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Picador

Fumiko, 28, had bought a special outfit to meet boyfriend Goro. He wanted them to have a serious chat and she was sure he was going to propose. Instead, he tells her he’s emigrating from Japan to America. The cafe he chooses has seating for only nine people and its clocks all tell different times. Returning a week after her lover has gone, Fumiko discovers this is the famous Tokyo time-travelling cafe. It has the power to take you back to the past and she wants to go back one week. Regular Yaeko, a hostess bar owner, sits cross-legged on the bar as waitress Kazu explains the rules: you cannot change the present. You can only meet a customer who has been at the cafe. Only one chair allows you to time travel and you can’t leave that seat.

CHOSEN ONES by Veronica Roth, Hachette

A decade ago Sloane, Matthew, Esther, Albert and Ines saved the world from the Dark One, an evil villain who created catastrophic events. Now the five are called the Chosen Ones and are celebrities. But after one dies, a shock discovery points to a re-emergence of the Dark One.

THE LOST FUTURE OF PEPPERHARROW by Natasha Pulley, Bloomsbury

In this sequel to The Watchmaker of Filigree Street we’re in Tokyo, where watchmaker Keita Mori is on the trail of ghosts seen at the British Legation. Mori is scared and then he vanishes. A complex plot involving a samurai and a Russian invasion ensues. Intriguing.