Monica runs a cafe which is the hub of her community.

One day she realises that we often don’t know people as well as we think. Polite and friendly exchanges over coffee very rarely reveal the lives we are really leading.

A customer has left behind a green notebook in which he has revealed the terrible loneliness he is experiencing. There’s no name or way of knowing how to reach him, but Monica is determined to track him down. And in the process she and four other people confront the truth about their own lives.

It’s a book about honesty, friendship and forgiveness. It’s a warm, feel-good book full of hope, and it’s based around an unusual and quirky idea, but that is ultimately quite thought-provoking. Great characters and a clever idea.