This follow up is everything I wanted it to be and more! I honestly loved the first book but the characters have grown a new place in my heart with this follow up story! It has it all, mystery, humour, human observations and sadness. I cried a little but was filled with joy too. A truly enchanting book.

More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a slow burner of a read building up into a beautiful tale of love, friendship and the power of books.

The much loved characters return with continued focus on Takako, her relationship with her uncle Satoru and her friends and neighbours; but over riding all is the Morisaki Bookshop - it's atmosphere and clientele and the local Jinbocho area

Much of the book is set within autumn and the melancholic beauty of the season permeates the pages.

There is a tender innocence to relationships and a reserve that appears in many Japanese novels- not the upfront directness of western novels- and this is evident in this novel.

Takako persuades her uncle and aunt to take a holiday and she has the chance to manage the shop discovering more about the power of books Satoru and Momoko spend a few days away and their story is the principle focus of the novel.

The interplay between characters and the ever present influence and love of reading is what makes this book so endearing.

This is a worthy sequel to Days at the Morisaki Bookshop- tender, heartfelt and full of humanity in a crazy fast paced world - a one sit read to immerse yourself in and escape .

Quote- People forget all kinds of things. They live by forgetting. Yet our thoughts endure, the way waves leave traces in the sand.