Imagine there's a café in your neighborhood. A small, basement café barely large enough to hold a few booths, a few tables, and a counter. This café, though, has a bit of a poorly-kept secret, in that if you sit at one of the seats in the café, you can travel back in time. You can't leave the seat, you can't change the past, and you have to drink the coffee put in front of you before it gets cold, but you can travel back in time. What would you change? Obviously you'd be limited to people in the café, or people who have visited the café, but things can still be said, people you've visited with can be revisited, and, essentially, closure could be had.

This short book consists of four short stories set inside this café involving visitors and staff members who each discover a need to revisit the past. The four stories are different, but they're the same in that each person reaches some form of closure they need to move on in their lives.

I think I was expecting something different from the description here, and ultimately I was left with vague dissatisfaction, but not enough to really quit reading. You never find out some key points of how or why you can time travel in this café or any consequences for people who break the rules. The stories told were each nice enough, but I didn't really feel moved by any of them. I think I liked the second story the best and the fourth story the least, if we're keeping track.

It's not a bad read, and very quick, so don't let my vague annoyance dissuade you from giving it a try. I honestly wish I had a café (any café, with or without time travel) that was as cozy as this on sounds in my own neighborhood.