Dinner at the Night Library

A Novel

By: Hika Harada

Narrated by: Cindy Kay

All Otoha Higuchi wants to do is work with books. However, the exhausting nature of her work at a chain bookstore has quickly brought reality crashing down around her. She is already on the verge of quitting when she receives an anonymous invitation to apply for a job at the Night Library. The hours are from seven o’clock to midnight. The library exclusively stores books by deceased authors, and none of them can be checked out—instead, they’re put on public display to be revered and celebrated by the library’s visitors, making it akin to a book museum.

There, Otoha feels she has finally found her place in the world. She meets the other staff, a group of like-minded literary misfits, including a legendary chef who prepares incredible dinners for the employees at the end of each day. Night after night, she bonds with her colleagues over meals in the café, each of which are inspired by the literature on the shelves.

But as strange occurrences start happening around the library that may bring the threat of its closure, Otoha and her friends fear that the peace they have found there will forever be lost to them. Will their faith in the value of books be strong enough to save it? And what will remain if it isn’t?

Wonderful quirky little book

Intriguing characters, unusual setting, very good narrator. Ending a bit ambiguous, as if the author lost the thread of the plot and was unsure how to resolve the plot lines.