Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi is a poignant and heartwarming Japanese novel that continues the beloved Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. Translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot, the story once again takes readers to the magical Cafe Funiculi Funicula, where visitors are given a mysterious opportunity to travel back in time.

The café is famous for its secret time-travel offering, allowing people to revisit a crucial moment from their past and meet someone they have lost, loved, or left things unsaid with. However, the experience comes with strict rules. Travellers must have visited the café before, and most importantly, they must return to the present before their coffee goes cold.

In Before We Say Goodbye, a new group of visitors arrives at the café, each carrying their own regrets and unfinished emotions. Among them are a husband with something important left to say, a woman who could not say goodbye to her beloved dog, a woman who could not answer a marriage proposal, and a daughter who drove her father away.