The cover of this book immediately appealed to me but I have a funny response to novels set in or around bookshops - it's not always the setting I want to read about! Eventually I was intrigued enough to dive in to this international bestseller! 

And there is that same quirky, 'other world' sense about the story, the characters and the setting that I've found from other Japanese novels.

Takako's boyfriend has ended their relationship and is marrying someone else. Wounded and bereft, she decides she needs a change of scene so takes up her uncle's invitation to live in a room above his bookshop.

It stands on a quiet corner in Jimbocho, Tokyo, the district known for its secondhand bookshops. But Takako has no interest in books or reading so the fact that the Morisaki Bookshop is much loved and highly regarded means nothing to her.

Takako puts in the hours at the till and little by little, the magic of the books that surround her and which pass through her hands weaves its spell on her.

Both Takako and her uncle Satoru have had their disappointments and sadnesses in life and come to realise the consolation they can bring each other and learn what the bookshop can teach them about life, love and the healing power of books!