One of our amazing team is currently enjoying a trip to Japan, and it made me think about how much incredible Japanese fiction we have on our shelves in the bookshop and in the warehouse!
I have a whole other blog post planned in my head about some of my favourite genres of Japanese writing, but for today - seeing as it's winter and we all sometimes need a bit of feel-good fiction, I thought I'd focus on one of the biggest categories we see being bought - Healing Fiction!
Healing Fiction?
Healing Fiction are those books that soothe the soul, that warm the heart, that bring a touch of magic to the every day and provide a quiet sense of hope amongst the absolute chaos of the world among us. The novels are often about people grappling with very human struggles - heartbreak, feeling very alone, regrets for things they've said/not said, grief for the people they have lost, and yet these healing stories take those themes that we can all relate to in some way and give us all a second chance to grow and to find our way through. They fit beautifully into a cozy reader's TBR, the kinds of stories that won't leave you reeling in turmoil but will definitely bring a sense of peace. They are generally a little slower that a plot forward novel, and quieter in their characters and their storylines. I love them - they feel like a little moment to take a deep breath in amongst all the other genres I read like horror and romance!
Most of the healing fiction that started making its way over here to Aotearoa and onto our bookshelves started as being works by Japanese authors. It's rise in popularity I think is due to all the amazing translators working hard to share incredible authors with an English speaking audience, but I also feel like there's something that the desire for these types of stories speaks to in terms of our collective psyche. Maybe it's just a chance to escape, but I think there's something in these novels that reminds us that yes we'll make mistakes and encounter hardships but maybe, just maybe, everything could work out exactly as it needs to.
My Own Introduction:
My own introduction to so called 'healing fiction' (had no idea that was a genre back then) was through the ever popular 'Before the Coffee Gets Cold' series by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. As per usual I was drawn in by the cover (with the cat!) and haven't looked back since.
The premise is simple and the execution is flawless - there is a magical cafe hidden away in Tokyo where people can go visit people through time, for the duration it takes for their coffee to get cold. The series of short encounters by a variety of visitors is often heart breaking but somehow also heart warming - seeing people get the chance to say those last words they wish they'd had the chance to whisper, to talk to a husband who is now lost to Alzheimer's, or to know someone who they never even had the chance to meet.
The stories are gentle and yet despite this they grapple with big themes of loss and grief, and they explore the question of what we would do if we did have just one more moment with the people we miss so dearly.
Common Elements of Healing Fiction
- Cats - almost always featured on the cover, sometimes in the book too. Occasionally a pink hippo instead.
- Warm Beverages
- Community - or rather places where community come together e.g. a cafe, a bookshop, even a convenience store
- A light sprinkle of magic and/or romance
- Episodic Stories - not always but often these books include short little vignettes of characters that are connected through the setting and the themes they are exploring
- Books and Bookshops (often and of course)
- The idea of healing through food (such as one of my other favourites in the genre, 'The Kamogawa Food Detectives)'
If the idea of reading about cats appeals, you may also want to check out the Cat Video Festival happening at Event Cinemas!
The amazing Book Hero team member Kevin has prescribed some perfect J-Pop songs to go along with your healing fiction reading! Make sure to give them a listen to on our Playlist!
Cats on the Cover
The Kamogawa Food Detectives is one of my favourites in the genre because I love fiction that also features incredible food descriptions!
The premise of this little novel is that there's a cafe where the father and daughter chefs act as 'food detectives', working to track down the information required to recreate the meals from your past that linger in the memory. The book asks the question about what one dish you would do anything to taste again (for me it's the tomato sandwiches that my grandma would make for me - nothing fancy but nothing ever tastes quite like the ones she used to make for me).
The lost meals and recipes of people's past are a connection to those people and memories they cling to, and through these chances to eat them again they are able to find a way to move on. It's a fabulous book that made me want to visit Tokyo and track down my own food detectives (or at least eat a lot of delicious Japanese food in the meantime!).
Korean Healing Fiction
It's not just the Japanese that have mastered the genre of healing fiction, there is an amazing range of similar books being translated from Korean, and there are some that fit the genre from other places too (although both the Japanese and Korean books take top prize for designing the most stunning covers for their beautiful books!). In terms of Korean authors I would recommend checking out anything translated by Shanna Tan (she is an incredible translator who just *gets* the genre!). Try out 'The Marigold Mind Laundry' by Jungeun Yun which is about a magical laundromat where people come to get their mind cleansed of painful experiences (yes please!) for a taste of Korean Healing Fiction!
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop
For a book club we read Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum and it's a great example of the genre - a novel about a woman who owns a bookshop and the people who visit as well as those who work there. Some people in the book club were frustrated by "nothing happening" but I think these books are a bit like that, a little slice of life where things move slower and people change in small and subtle ways (no big huge revelations, just quiet realizations).
It's a beautifully calm and peaceful book, and it's a reminder that we can all take those little steps towards the life we truly want.
“Outside the window, the weather is beyond our control. The sun will rise and set every day, sometimes there’ll be rain, and at night the moon and stars light up the sky blanketed by the darkness, and when the night gives way to dawn, it’ll be yet another day. There’s nothing we can do to change what’s outside, but we can choose the weather in our heart. Our feelings are ours to decide, and there’s always happiness within us. The weather in our heart is ours, and ours alone.” ― Jungeun Yun, Marigold Mind Laundry
These are the books where things go right, people have struggles just like we do but all of these become opportunities. Their stories uplift and give us all hope that with a quiet sense of community (and a cat?), everything might just turn out just fine. Let me know what books feeling like they'd fit in this genre here for you?
Lizzy makes sure the Book Hero bookstore is an integral part of our local Hobsonville community, welcoming readers of all ages with a genuine kindness and love of books. The Fantastic Mr Fox ignited her passion for books as a child, and now she’s read thousands of books and loves matching the right book to the right reader - both in our bookstore and online. When she’s not recommending her next favourite read, she’s enjoying life’s small joys with her husband, Edd, and their chaotic but lovely child.
