Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

DEBUT When Takako’s boyfriend, Hideaki, who is also her coworker, announces that he’s getting married—to someone else—she is shocked. Seeing her boyfriend and his fiancée at work becomes too excruciating, so Takako quits her job and spends her days sleeping. When Takako’s uncle Satoru calls, she accepts his offer to stay for free in the apartment above the family bookshop in return for helping at the store—, even though she doesn’t even like to read. Takako is reluctant when she arrives in Jimbocho, the book district of Tokyo, with streets full of secondhand bookshops. Then one night she picks up a book and devours it, starting a voracious reading habit and making her appreciate books. As she gets to know her Satoru better and settles into the community, Takako makes new friends, finds the courage to confront Hideaki, and even manages to reunite her estranged aunt and uncle. With a wonderfully atmospheric setting, literary references, and a cast of eccentric characters, Yagisawa offers an ode to secondhand bookshops and the readers who love them.