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A Novel
by Hika Harada
The Night Library is no ordinary library.
Within it are found the rarest and most unusual collections – the books of deceased famous writers:
the books they wrote;
the books that inspired them;
the books they loved.
All Otaha Higuchi wants to do is work with books. However, the exhausting nature of her work at a chain bookstore, combined with her paltry salary and irritating manager quickly bring reality crashing down around her. She is on the verge of quitting when she receives a message from somebody anonymous, inviting her to apply for a job at '"The Night Library." The hours are from seven o'clock to midnight. The library exclusively stores books by deceased authors, and none of them can be checked out – instead, they're put on public display to be revered and celebrated by the library's visitors, making it akin to a book museum.
There, Otoha meets the other staff, a group of likeminded literary misfits, including a legendary chef who prepares incredible meals for the library's employees at the end of each day. Night after night, she bonds with her colleagues over meals in the café, each of which are inspired by the literature on the shelves.
But as strange occurrences start happening around the library that may bring the threat of its closure, Otaha and her friends fear that the peace they have found there will forever be lost to them. Will their faith in the value of books strong enough to save it? And what will remain if it isn't?
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This information about Dinner at the Night Library was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Born 1970 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Harada won the 34th NHK Creative Radio Drama Grand Prix in 2005 for Little Princess No. 2. In 2007, she won the 31st Subaru Literary Award for The Teatime That Doesn't Start. Her novel How to Use 3000 Yen won the Miyazaki Book Award. Her other books include The Hotel For Elders, The Purse Dances, The Secondhand Bookstore Diner, Kiriko's Crime Diary, The Lunch Sake series, The Three Sisters Bistro series, First Eat This, Recipes For Delicious Mouthfuls, Zatsu the Set-meal Restaurant, Monthly Income and many more.
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