The Convenience Store by the Sea

Machida (52-Hertz Whales) concocts a heartfelt and pleasantly quirky tale of a convenience store chain that serves just what its customers need. In the seaside town of Mojiko, the eccentric Mr. Shiba manages a Tenderness store, where his magnetic personality and handsome figure are nothing compared to his love for his customers and employees. The story follows multiple Tenderness patrons as they navigate hardships, with the store bringing them closer together. Among them are employee Mitsuri, a mother who struggles with raising a difficult teenage boy and finds solace in publishing her popular online manga. There’s also customer Yoshirō, an aspiring manga artist who strives to leave his job as a tutor; and Azusa, a middle schooler who yearns to step out of her friend’s shadow and discovers joy in the sweet treats at Tenderness, fueling her desire to become a pastry chef. Mr. Shiba’s interventions in others’ lives has mixed results—his encouragement of Yoshirō causes the young man to reel from embarrassment—but overall, the well-meaning proprietor seeds a sense of hope and purpose in those he encounters. Readers of healing fiction like Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold will be delighted. (July)