The Art of Healing Fiction

Amid the noise and uncertainty of our time, healing fiction can grant readers a moment of stillness. These stories show that meaning can be found in everyday adversity, that alternatives always exist, and that the arc of our lives, however painful, can lead to a place where all will, at last, be well.

Healing fiction’s popularity has surged within the last five years. Writing in the New York Times, Alexandra Alter demonstrates that in a postpandemic world, it’s a sign of the times we live in. In Japan, the genre is referred to as Iyashikei (癒し系), and in Korea, K-healing. Most of these novels follow a similar pattern: they are quiet, reflective stories that end hopefully. Often set in and around coffee shops, laundromats, and bookshops, they can often be laced with magical realism, talking cats, time travel, and memories carrying hidden messages. Their characters stand at a crossroads, reeling from job loss, heartbreak, or grief, living seemingly ordinary lives until they notice the kindness in strangers. From such moments, extraordinary miracles occur.

In this list, I have gathered six novels, some acclaimed best-sellers in their countries, as an open door into the cozy world of healing fiction where the smallest acts of kindness can help ease our restless minds.

Hiro Arikawa (Japan)

The Passengers on the Hankyu Line

Trans. Allison Markin Powell

Penguin, 2025

“For a girl like you, life might not be all easy. But that doesn’t mean that you won’t find people who see you.” Through chance encounters, the passengers who take the Hankyu Line move through their daily lives. Filled with interactions and layered with soft judgments we secretly impart to others without knowing their full story, strangers come together and display empathy for one another. This book is beautifully told and reminds us that even when life seems unremarkable, someone might truly see us.

Yeoh Jo-Ann (Singapore)

Deplorable Conversations with Cats and Other Distractions

Penguin, 2024

Lucky, a coffee shop owner, is grief-stricken after his sister passes away. She leaves him her cat, Coconut, but Lucky is not a huge fan of cats. As Lucky struggles, Coconut starts to speak to him; she is sassy, honest, and a welcome reprieve from the pain of grief that shrouds him. Told with sensitivity and humor, as well as being a beautiful ode to Singapore and Malaysia, the novel is filled with sensory elements of local food, the importance of kopi coffee culture, and the humor that goes with life.

Mai Mochizuki (Japan)

The Full Moon Coffee Shop

Trans. Jesse Kirkwood

Ballantine Books, 2024

Astrology, a café that only appears when there is a full moon, and talking cats collide in this sweetly told tale of destiny. Characters at a crossroads in their lives are nudged together due to celestial alignments and fated encounters, stemming from a connection long ago. This is a novel with the message to not ignore your past and that sometimes it is okay to surrender and allow the universe to lead you; the fates and stars can align in your favor.

Yeon Somin (Korea)

The Healing Season of Pottery

Trans. Clare Richards

Algonquin Books, 2024

A young woman walks away from her job and stumbles into a neighborhood pottery studio. The friendly cat, the amazing coffee, and interacting with other students inspire her, and by using the clay, she starts to mold herself a new life. This story is about reclaiming a sense of self through the power of tactile, creative work, where losing yourself in a practice can transform you and open your heart.

Kim Jiyun (Korea)

Yeonnam-Dong’s Smiley Laundromat

Trans. Shanna Tan

MacLehose Press, 2024

Already a sanctuary for locals, a laundromat with wonderful-smelling detergent becomes a place for people to ask for advice in a shared diary that has mysteriously appeared. Locals start to write in it anonymously, asking for advice in their lives. A struggling mother writes, “I don’t want to keep going. Why is life so hard?” The elderly local man, Old Jang, replies, likening her struggles to caring for a tomato plant: “There’ll come a time where the bitterness fades away, and life will be at its best.” These interlinked chapters filled with various locals are touching and relatable and a testament to the magic that can happen when a local community comes together to aid everyone in its midst.

Satoshi Yagisawa (Japan)

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

Trans. Eric Ozawa

Harper Perennial, 2023

This Japanese best-seller is set in a bookshop in Tokyo’s Jimbocho district. A young woman, Takaoko, is heartbroken, and she retreats to her uncle’s bookstore to work and recover. Surrounded by stories found in the secondhand books and those of the others that visit, Takaoko slowly begins to heal. If only all of us had an Uncle Satoru who owned a secondhand bookshop in Tokyo . . .

Singapore