A review by henrymarlene
The 24-Hour Café by Libby Page

3.0

Time for a coffee and a cookie at 'The 24-Hour Café by @libbypagewrites. This was a bright and quirky story about Hannah and Mona, the cast and crew of the cafe set just across from Liverpool Street station, and a menagerie of customers who enter it stores within one 24-hour period. It's a big ask to fit the activities of a full day in detail, not to mention covering all the back and main stories that are weaved together. Every chapter covers each hour that goes by, primarily around Hannah and Mona. Yet some of the other characters really steal the scene when their time (or hour) comes to shine: Dan, the young student, had such a sad story, the hard-shelled Polish cook, the moment that John, the Big Issue seller, was given the umbrella in the rain was exquisite, and the story of the older couple, so bittersweet. There seemed to be so much to fit in about each of these characters and they seem to be stretched a little too thinly in some places but they were all necessary. It was their stories and interactions that kept the momentum of the cafe going as much as Hannah's and Mona's tales. Hannah herself was a little hard to warm to, and Mona also seemed to lack a lot of depth. This made it hard to get to know her as well as Hannah. This book seems so fitting to read, sitting in a warm cafe nursing a pot of tea or a cappuccino; a distraction to entertain and think about all those around you and the intersections of life in one place and time.