A physician and award-winning writer, Sosuke Natsukawa is best known to Japanese audiences for his medical-themed novel “In His Chart” (“Kamisama no Karute”), which has been adapted for the big screen and TV. His English-language debut, however, combines elements of fantasy, coming-of-age and classic literature in a tale about a reticent teenager with hikikomori (reclusive) tendencies and the straight-talking feline who enters his life.
Raised by his caring grandfather, high school student Rintaro is suddenly faced with closing the family business — a secondhand bookshop specializing in literary classics — when the old man dies. For a shy boy who has always found solace in the shop and its books, the future seems bleak. Things take an unexpected turn when a cat named Tiger strolls nonchalantly into the shop, announcing that he needs Rintaro’s assistance to save books from mistreatment at the hands of their thoughtless owners.