Healing Fiction: Finding Hope Through Storytelling

It’s quite likely that you’ve spotted healing fiction novels on bookstore and library shelves, even if you’re not fully aware of this new genre. The covers of these books are invitingly cozy, usually involving warmly lit windows, plants, cups containing warm drinks, piles of books, and—more than likely—a cat.

So, what are the key elements of this new genre? What do readers love about it, and how can writers explore the genre as a potential home for their stories? On the blog today, author and writing coach Libby Page explores this new trend in publishing and breaks down its key features.

Is this publishing’s coziest genre?

There are certain book covers I can never resist if I spot them on the shelves. If a book has an illustrated cover of a bookstore, cozy cafe, or library, I am sold before even needing to read the blurb. Even better if the cover also features a cat.

If you, too, are drawn to these kinds of cozy, inviting novels, then chances are you have already been reading healing fiction.

Healing fiction is a term that has arisen over recent years, particularly used by publishers to describe Japanese and Korean novels in translation set in calm, cozy locations such as cafes, bookshops, and libraries, and usually featuring quiet, gentle plots with a thread of emotion running through them. They also often happen to feature cats. These novels have long been popular in Japan and Korea, but have gained new fans overseas since being translated. And I am one of them.

{{blog-banner-14="/blog-banners"}}

Heartwarming, whimsical, comforting, and cozy are words often used to describe healing fiction. Similar to Up Lit, these novels often deal with themes of loneliness and community, following the journey of one character or often several characters as they find connection in the world.

They are referred to as ‘healing’ because readers often say that these stories—ones that deal with very real human issues but in a feel-good way—can help them deal with, and ultimately heal from, their own life experiences by finding solace in the pages. They are books that might make you cry, but in a cathartic, wholesome kind of way. They make you reflect on the poignancy of life.

When I was dealing with grief after a string of losses, I turned to healing fiction, drawn in by the inviting, bookish covers of Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa and its sequel, More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. Inside these books, I found a heartrending mix of a slow, almost dreamlike pace, but also poignant issues like loss and heartbreak that helped me process my own emotions.

The 7 elements of healing fiction books

This genre consists of gentle, contemplative books that are escapist yet grounding. They are the literary equivalent of a warm cup of tea drunk from a simple mug that feels good to hold in your hand.

But what makes a novel ‘healing’? Keep reading to learn more about the seven essential elements of this magical bookish world.

1. A touch of magic

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Perhaps one of the most successful examples of the healing fiction trend is the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, first published in the U.K. in 2019 and the U.S.A. in 2022. Before the Coffee Gets Cold is set in a coffee shop in Tokyo where one particular table offers customers the chance to travel back in time while adhering to several rules, including one that states they must return to the present by the time their coffee grows cold. It is a book about lost love, second chances, regrets, and moving forward in life.

The popularity of the original book, which has sold more than six million copies in 46 languages, led to several more in the series: Tales from the Cafe, Before Your Memory Fades, and Before We Say Goodbye, with the most recent publication being the fifth book, Before We Forget Kindness.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop and The Rainfall Market

Magical elements also feature in other titles in this genre, such as The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki, about a Kyoto coffee shop that appears when it is needed and is run by talking cats, and The Rainfall Market by You Yeong-Gwang, which is about a mystical market where lonely protagonist Serin sets out to choose a new life with the help of a companion who, you’ve guessed it, is a cat. And a magical one, at that.

The Dallergut Dream Department Store and the Marigold Mind Laundry

Other examples of magical realism within these novels include the million-copy bestselling book The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee—a quirky, surreal novel about a department store that sells dreams to sleeping customers—and Marigold Mind Laundry by Jungeun Yun, a novel set in a magical laundry where five customers come to have their pain washed away.

This isn’t about high fantasy, but instead about adding a magical element to everyday settings in a way that feels escapist yet relatable.

Magical novels in this genre tap into the growing popularity of cozy fantasy novels (those by authors like T.J. Klune and Travis Baldree) and of books set in the real world but with a speculative twist, such as those by authors like Evie Woods and Ashley Poston (who wrote a wonderful blog for us all about speculative romance novels).

Clearly, many of us are increasingly drawn to books that include some element of magic and can transport us, even just a little bit, beyond our daily lives.

This genre consists of gentle, contemplative books that are escapist yet grounding. They are the literary equivalent of a warm cup of tea drunk from a simple mug that feels good to hold in your hand.
—Libby Page

2. Humble settings

A novel doesn’t have to include magic in order to be considered healing fiction. Many of these books are more grounded, set in everyday, mundane locations such as the laundromat in Yeonnam-Dong’s Smiley Laundromat by Kim Jiyun, or the 24-hour shop in The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida.

Letters from the Ginza Shihodo Stationery Shop

Healing fiction often celebrates the humble and ordinary, such as in Letters from the Ginza Shihodo Stationery Shop by Kenji Ueda, where each chapter focuses on a different item of stationery (a fountain pen, an organizer, notebooks, postcards, memo pads) alongside the story of the shop assistant and customers who come in looking for stationery but leave with something more.  

The setting is often central to the premise of these books: a location that brings together lost souls, each of them leaving feeling more connected and having possibly dealt with some emotional issue in their lives.

3. Books for the soul

The Morisaki Bookshop, the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop, and the magic of libraries

One of my personal favorite elements of healing fiction is when the novels themselves feature books and bookshops, like Days at the Morisaki Bookshop and its sequel, as well as Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum (one of my favorites), or books set in libraries like What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama.

These are novels that celebrate the healing power of books and reading. No surprise, then, that they are so popular with book lovers. I would also say that a bookish element makes booksellers and librarians perhaps even more eager to recommend these particular titles (doesn’t a display table of books about books look just right in a bookstore or library?), which may contribute to their success.

Books about books are also very giftable: I have given copies of these specific titles to bookish friends, confident that the inviting covers and themes inside about the healing power of fiction will resonate with any bookworm.

4. Healing through food

Food is often a prominent feature in healing fiction. The coffee that is served in Before the Coffee Gets Cold is described in great detail. There is an inviting coffee shop in Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop, where you can just imagine yourself sitting with a book and a cup of something warm to drink, and something sweet to eat.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives and The Restaurant of Lost Recipes

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai (and its follow-up, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes) has a charming foodie premise: a private detective agency based at a restaurant where customers come with requests for the chefs to track down favorite meals from their pasts and recreate them. The meals are typically simple, comforting foods rich in memories for the customers, often connecting them with lost or estranged loved ones.

In these novels, food is a delicious, escapist element, but it also goes deeper than that. Food connects to so many aspects of being human—the very poignant act of sharing a meal with a loved one, of comforting someone with a hearty bowl of soup, or the bittersweet memory of a grandparent recalled through the smell of their favorite dish.

The idea of the bittersweet and of the simple yet profound things that make us human is an important part of healing fiction.

5. Cats, cats, and more cats

My unscientific opinion is that cats feature so often in these books because book lovers and cats have a lot in common: they like curling up in warm, comfy spots and can be quiet, contemplative creatures who often prefer their own company. (Or is that just me?!)

When I was writing my latest book, This Book Made Me Think of You, I made the conscious choice to include a cat character because I reflected that the Venn diagram of book lovers and cat lovers probably has a decent crossover.

These books will prescribe you a cat

I suspect I might be onto something, given the popularity of healing fiction novels featuring cats. The Travelling Cat Chronicles and The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa, The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa, We’ll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida, and The Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu: all of these novels prominently celebrate cats, often with memorable and sometimes sentient feline characters.

Books within this space that don’t actually include cats might still feature a cat on their cover, such is the enduring appeal of the cat to book lovers. Perhaps another reason cats are so popular in healing fiction is because reading these books very much mirrors the experience of sitting somewhere comfy with a sleeping cat curled up on your lap.

The idea of the bittersweet and of the simple yet profound things that make us human is an important part of healing fiction.
—Libby Page

6. Episodic stories

Many healing fiction novels read almost like collections of short stories, with different characters’ tales loosely connected through a common setting. For example, in Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four different characters and follow each of their journeys as they visit the cafe in search of its time-traveling table. The setting is constant, as are the characters who work in the coffee shop, whom we get to learn more about throughout the series. But we also get the chance to dip into the heads of different characters.

Similarly, in the multi-million-copy bestselling What You Are Looking for is in the Library, we meet five visitors to the library, each grappling with particular problems that the librarian aims to help them solve through a book recommendation. Each of those visitors’ stories reads like a story within a story.

This style reminds me of my own novel, The 24-Hour Café, in which I tell the stories of customers in an all-night diner over a 24-hour period, as well as following the journeys of the staff who work there.

To me, the appeal of interconnected stories like this is that they give readers a chance to walk in the shoes of lots of different characters. It’s also a style that feels easy to dip in and out of, making me think that this brand of healing fiction is particularly appealing because the novels are often short, with bite-sized stories within the main story: ideal for our increasingly frazzled minds.

7. Don’t forget the tissues

Despite being comforting and cozy books (that feel like a blanket draped over your shoulder on a cold day), healing fiction novels may well make you cry.

But that’s part of the point of them. They tackle issues that affect us all—love, loss, heartbreak, loneliness, and isolation—and yet they leave readers ultimately feeling more connected.

Does this genre only include translated fiction?

The healing fiction trend has been driven by the popularity of Japanese and Korean books in translation, but according to publishers and booksellers in a 2024 article in the Bookseller, books by authors like Clare Pooley, Matt Haig, and Sara Nisha Adams also contain many elements of the genre.

I would suggest that a book like The Ghost Cat by Alex Howard, which I very much enjoyed, features many of the components of healing fiction: magical realism, interconnected stories linked together by one location, and a short length.

In conversations with my publishers, Penguin Random House, the term healing fiction has been mentioned when talking about my next novel, This Book Made Me Think of You, which will be published in early 2026. It’s set in a bookshop in North London, featuring a bookshop cat called Georgette and following the story of widow Matilda Nightingale as she works through her grief with the help of 12 carefully chosen books—one for every month of the year. In it, Tilly finds healing through books and a second chance at life.

I would describe it as a very healing novel. It deals with the heavy topic of grief, but in an ultimately uplifting way. And although it might not fit exactly within the healing fiction genre, I was certainly inspired by books I’ve loved, like What You Are Looking For is in the Library and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, which are centered in cozy bookish settings and explore the healing nature of fiction.

Why is healing fiction so popular?

For me personally, the draw of these kinds of novels is that they offer a gentle escape from the real world without demanding too much of me.

A 2024 New York Times article speculated that healing fiction is so popular right now because readers are looking for books that soothe during tumultuous times. In the midst of political and environmental upheaval, many readers want to turn to books that comfort them. That makes a lot of sense. During tough times, opening a book can be an escape from the constant negative news cycle. A chance to curl up with a hot drink and just rest.

These novels are typically short (Before the Coffee Gets Cold  has around 200 pages) and written using simple, easy-to-follow language. They do not have complex plots where you have to struggle to remember characters’ names and backstories. They are not gritty, angsty novels. They are grounded yet escapist, emotional yet restorative.

In the midst of political and environmental upheaval, many readers want to turn to books that comfort them.
—Libby Page

Books are a safe way to process very real emotions, and healing fiction doesn’t shy away from topics such as loneliness, grief, and mental health. Reading about these experiences, especially when they are woven into such gentle, cozy stories, can help us process issues in our own lives.

And that’s what I think healing fiction books do so well. These magical books give us a quiet moment to go inward and reflect—something that can feel increasingly difficult in today’s noisy world.

‍

Wherever you are on your writer’s journey, we can offer the complete pathway from coming up with an idea through to ‘The End.’ Our novel writing programs include personal mentorship from published authors, live classes, and step-by-step self-paced lessons to inspire you daily, and we’ll help you complete your book with our unique one-hour-a-day method. Learn from bestselling authors and publishing editors to live—and love—the writer’s life. Sign up and start today. The Novelry is the famous fiction writing school that is open to all!