Dinner at the Night Library: A Novel by Hika Harada (Hardcover) (PREORDER)

Fiction - Magical Realism - Literary - Fantasy - Contemporary - World Literature - Japan

Translated from the Japanese by: Philip Gabriel

RELEASE DATE: 9/30/2025 (WILL SHIP DIRECTLY FROM OUR SUPPLIER'S WAREHOUSE AND ARRIVE 1-2 DAYS AFTER THE RELEASE DATE)

The Night Library is no ordinary library.

Within it are found the rarest and most unusual collections – the books of deceased famous writers:

the books they wrote;
the books that inspired them;
the books they loved.

All Otaha Higuchi wants to do is work with books. However, the exhausting nature of her work at a chain bookstore, combined with her paltry salary and irritating manager quickly bring reality crashing down around her. She is on the verge of quitting when she receives a message from somebody anonymous, inviting her 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 meets the other staff, a group of likeminded literary misfits, including a legendary chef who prepares incredible meals for the library’s 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, Otaha 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 strong enough to save it? And what will remain if it isn’t?

AUTHOR BIO: 

Hika Harada is the bestselling Japanese author of multiple books and has won several awards, including the Subaru Literature Prize.

TRANSLATOR BIO: 

Philip Gabriel, Professor of Japanese literature in the Department of East Asian Studies, the University of Arizona. He has translated many novels and short stories by the writer Haruki Murakami and other modern writers. He is recipient of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature (2001) for his translation of Senji Kuroi’s Life in the Cul-de-Sac, and the 2006 PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize for his translation of Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.