Can a book change your life? Can a book fix your life? Can a librarian? Wouldn't we all like to think so? This gentle story concerns Sayuri Komachi, a librarian in Tokyo, who is able to do just that--finding the exact right book for the exact right reader at the exact right time.

It's a gentle, sweet story--no surprises, no violence, just plenty of charm, and a love of libraries, community, kindness, understanding, and wisdom.

This book is about people who are adrift and need guidance and direction--young adults who aren't quite sure just how to be adults, a retired man who realizes his relationships were work-based and is now feeling lost and friendless, and so on. The author is patient and forgiving with her characters, who are poor communicators, a bit closed-minded, at times rather self-involved. What they are looking for can be, quite fortunately, found in the library. May it be so for all of us (who are also flawed and sometimes stuck human beings) once we open our minds and hearts and reconsider our options, wherever we are in our lives.

NOVEL: What You are Looking for is in the Library

AUTHOR: Michiko Aoyama (English translation by Alison Watts)

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2020 (English translation 2023)

IMAGE: book cover, Hanover Square Press