The Miracles of the Namiya General Store By Keigo Higashino

In this fantasy novel, three young guys seek a temporary hideout in an abandoned general  when their car breaks down after they have committed a robbery at a rich woman’s house.

Atsuya, Kohei, and Shota are planning to hide in the general store for the night. An envelope suddenly slides through the store’s mail slot, addressed to the Namiya General Store. The letter is from an athlete looking for advice: Should she forgo her Olympic training to take care of her dying boyfriend or push forward to pursue her dream?  

The guys discover that the owner of the store—when it was in operation in the 1980s—had a reputation for answering letters from people seeking advice for anything troubling them.

When Kohei sends a reply, he gets a response. The correspondence continues though the trio are in the dark as to where the letters are coming from. But they realise that the letters seem to be from 30 years in the past.

 The trio inadvertently take on the roles of agony aunties, purveying advice in their replies to the letters they receive. The mysteries and secrets of the old General Store come to light, as their letters transcend time and space to touch a variety of characters, revealing Namiya’s past, and follows the many miracles that intertwine the lives of the seemingly unrelated cast.

By morning, none of the lives of the trio will ever be the same. At first, I thought they were just delinquents, but by the end of the book, I was completely taken by surprise with how Higashino was able to make the characters and their life stories get interwoven together.

 I highly recommend this book to anyone who is into a contemporary tale with a  hint of magic realism to it. I was easily drawn into the book and found it hard to put down. It is truly a hardwarming and wholesome tale with thought-provoking life lessons.