Discover the Penguin books that shaped us

Hot Chocolate on Thursday

byMichiko Aoyama, E. Madison Shimoda (Translator)

Format:

HardbackAudio Download

Pre-order:

Apple BooksOpens in a new tabKoboOpens in a new tabLibro.fmOpens in a new tabxigxagOpens in a new tab
Brought to you by Penguin.

Much-loved early novel by the bestselling author of WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS IN THE LIBRARY for fans of BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD

Across a bridge, in view of cherry blossom lies the Marble Cafe where a woman writes in a notebook and a young waiter prepares her favourite hot drink. Both wonder about each other and about the other lives of the clientele who frequent this magical little cafe behind the trees ....

Without even realizing it, we may touch and change someone else's life.

Taking a walk along the river, cooking the best tamagoyaki, ordering hot chocolate, forgetting to remove our nail polish... The small, everyday acts that we do can offer unexpected encounters and ultimately change a life. HOT CHOCOLATE ON THURSDAY connects twelve slice-of-life moments that open and close with a woman ordering her regular hot chocolate at the mysterious Marble Cafe.

What happens in between will touch and swell your heart, as we connect with a community of untold unfolding lives.

© Michiko Aoyama 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

About Michiko Aoyama

Michiko Aoyama was born in 1970 in Aichi Prefecture, Honshu, Japan. She is the author of the multi-million-copy bestselling What You Are Looking For is in the Library, which was a Time Book of the Year, a Times bestseller and a New York Times Book of the Month. Her latest novel to be translated into English, Hot Chocolate on Thursday, is her debut, which tells of the Marble Cafe, a tiny community cafe in Tokyo, and is set partly in Japan and partly in Sydney, Australia. It is a companion read to Matcha on Monday, coming soon in translation. Another book available in English by Aoyama is the international bestseller The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park. Aoyama lives in Yokohama, Japan.
Details
All editions