What do you think?
Rate this book
Postcards from Japan: A Novel
From the author of the international bestseller Ikigai comes a tender and thought-provoking novel of love, mystery and cultural discovery.
When mysterious postcards from Japan arrive out of the blue, Samuel-a university lecturer who is profoundly disillusioned with life-doesn't know what to think. At around the same time, Samuel's girlfriend splits up with him, and he is heartbroken.
Samuel's good friend Meritxell suggests he takes a holiday to Japan-he can recover from his heartbreak and maybe discover who sent the postcards and why. When he arrives in Japan, he is so taken with the food, the scenery, the people, the temples, that he almost forgets to look for the sender of the postcards. But when he meets the beautiful Mizuki, he finds himself on a journey of self-discovery he would never have imagined. . .
Written with Francesc Miralles's signature insight and wit, Postcards from Japan is a charming and uplifting story about second chances, cultural connection and the beauty of imperfection. Ideal for fans of healing fiction/cozy fiction such as Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop.
When mysterious postcards from Japan arrive out of the blue, Samuel-a university lecturer who is profoundly disillusioned with life-doesn't know what to think. At around the same time, Samuel's girlfriend splits up with him, and he is heartbroken.
Samuel's good friend Meritxell suggests he takes a holiday to Japan-he can recover from his heartbreak and maybe discover who sent the postcards and why. When he arrives in Japan, he is so taken with the food, the scenery, the people, the temples, that he almost forgets to look for the sender of the postcards. But when he meets the beautiful Mizuki, he finds himself on a journey of self-discovery he would never have imagined. . .
Written with Francesc Miralles's signature insight and wit, Postcards from Japan is a charming and uplifting story about second chances, cultural connection and the beauty of imperfection. Ideal for fans of healing fiction/cozy fiction such as Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published April 21, 2026
About the author
Francesc Miralles
225 books646 followersSon of a dressmaker and an erudite office worker, he was born in Barcelona on the 27th August 1968. After spending eight years in a religious school in la Ribera –just beside the Palau de la Música¡–, he attended high school at the extinguished academy ALMI and IES MONTSERRAT.
Despite his bad grades, he was accepted into the UAB’s faculty of Journalism, which he quited after four months. That the same year, he started to work as a waiter at LES PUCES DEL BARRI GÒTIC, a bar in the Gothic Quarter where he learned to play the piano.
In the following year, returning to the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, he started studying English Literature, which he combined with precarious language teacher jobs. After five years of being a sloth, he stalled at the third year of his studies and quited them again.
Having been attacked by travel fever since the age of seventeen, he decided to leave everything behind to travel the world. A bunch of chance encounters led him to live in Croatia and Slovenia during the armed conflicts.
Upon returning to Barcelona, he resumed his academic life as a student of German Literature at the Universidad de Barcelona. Once he completed his studies, he attended a master for publishers. His entrance in the editorial world had started a year earlier, as translator of German and English spirituality and alternative therapy books.
Before finishing his postgraduate studies, he got hired as editor for a publishing house specializing in self-help books. There, he directed several collections, and he also wrote many different types of work under a pseudonym.
After leaving the publishing house, he promised to himself never to work again for a company. He decided to try his luck with a first youth novel. Since then, he basically dedicates himself to writing, and works as literary adviser for different publishing houses and an agency.
LOVE IN LOWERCASE (AMOR EN MINUSCULA), already translated into twenty languages, is getting published in 2016 by Penguin USA. This book also has its second part, eight years later, in the WABI-SABI novel, about the beauty of imperfection, which will be published in UK this may.
Nowadays he combines literature and journalism, and on a monthly basis publishes articles in EL PAÍS SEMANAL, and in the magazines CUERPOMENTE and MENTESANA. Beyond this, he also works for the radio and offers literary Sherpa services and art therapies.
*****************************************************
Hijo de una modista y de un administrativo ilustrado, nació en Barcelona el 27 de agosto de 1968. Tras pasar ocho años en una escuela de curas de la Ribera —al lado del Palau de la Música—, cursó bachillerato entre la desaparecida academia ALMI y el IES MONTSERRAT.
Pese a su mal expediente consiguió ingresar en la facultad de Periodismo de la UAB, carrera que abandonó al cabo de cuatro meses. Aquel mismo año entró a trabajar de camarero en LES PUCES DEL BARRI GÒTIC, una taberna de la calle Montsió donde aprendió a tocar el piano.
Nuevamente en la Autónoma, el año siguiente inició la carrera de Filología Inglesa, que combinaría con empleos precarios de profesor de idiomas. Tras cinco años de desidia, se estancó en tercer curso de carrera y volvió a abandonar los estudios.
Atacado desde los 17 años por la fiebre del viajero, decidió dejarlo todo para vagar por el mundo. Un cúmulo de casualidades le llevaron a vivir en Croacia y Eslovenia durante los conflictos bélicos, peripecia que relataría muchos años después en su libro CAFÈ BALCÀNIC.
De regreso a Barcelona, se reenganchó a la vida académica como estudiante de Filología Alemana en la Central. Completada la carrera, hizo un postgrado para editores. Su ingreso en el mundo editorial había empezado ya un año antes, como traductor de alemán e inglés de libros de espiritualidad y terapias alternativas.
Inmediatamente después fue contratado como editor por un sello de autoayuda. Allí dirigió diversa
Despite his bad grades, he was accepted into the UAB’s faculty of Journalism, which he quited after four months. That the same year, he started to work as a waiter at LES PUCES DEL BARRI GÒTIC, a bar in the Gothic Quarter where he learned to play the piano.
In the following year, returning to the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, he started studying English Literature, which he combined with precarious language teacher jobs. After five years of being a sloth, he stalled at the third year of his studies and quited them again.
Having been attacked by travel fever since the age of seventeen, he decided to leave everything behind to travel the world. A bunch of chance encounters led him to live in Croatia and Slovenia during the armed conflicts.
Upon returning to Barcelona, he resumed his academic life as a student of German Literature at the Universidad de Barcelona. Once he completed his studies, he attended a master for publishers. His entrance in the editorial world had started a year earlier, as translator of German and English spirituality and alternative therapy books.
Before finishing his postgraduate studies, he got hired as editor for a publishing house specializing in self-help books. There, he directed several collections, and he also wrote many different types of work under a pseudonym.
After leaving the publishing house, he promised to himself never to work again for a company. He decided to try his luck with a first youth novel. Since then, he basically dedicates himself to writing, and works as literary adviser for different publishing houses and an agency.
LOVE IN LOWERCASE (AMOR EN MINUSCULA), already translated into twenty languages, is getting published in 2016 by Penguin USA. This book also has its second part, eight years later, in the WABI-SABI novel, about the beauty of imperfection, which will be published in UK this may.
Nowadays he combines literature and journalism, and on a monthly basis publishes articles in EL PAÍS SEMANAL, and in the magazines CUERPOMENTE and MENTESANA. Beyond this, he also works for the radio and offers literary Sherpa services and art therapies.
*****************************************************
Hijo de una modista y de un administrativo ilustrado, nació en Barcelona el 27 de agosto de 1968. Tras pasar ocho años en una escuela de curas de la Ribera —al lado del Palau de la Música—, cursó bachillerato entre la desaparecida academia ALMI y el IES MONTSERRAT.
Pese a su mal expediente consiguió ingresar en la facultad de Periodismo de la UAB, carrera que abandonó al cabo de cuatro meses. Aquel mismo año entró a trabajar de camarero en LES PUCES DEL BARRI GÒTIC, una taberna de la calle Montsió donde aprendió a tocar el piano.
Nuevamente en la Autónoma, el año siguiente inició la carrera de Filología Inglesa, que combinaría con empleos precarios de profesor de idiomas. Tras cinco años de desidia, se estancó en tercer curso de carrera y volvió a abandonar los estudios.
Atacado desde los 17 años por la fiebre del viajero, decidió dejarlo todo para vagar por el mundo. Un cúmulo de casualidades le llevaron a vivir en Croacia y Eslovenia durante los conflictos bélicos, peripecia que relataría muchos años después en su libro CAFÈ BALCÀNIC.
De regreso a Barcelona, se reenganchó a la vida académica como estudiante de Filología Alemana en la Central. Completada la carrera, hizo un postgrado para editores. Su ingreso en el mundo editorial había empezado ya un año antes, como traductor de alemán e inglés de libros de espiritualidad y terapias alternativas.
Inmediatamente después fue contratado como editor por un sello de autoayuda. Allí dirigió diversa
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publishers Weekly
Dalam novel Postcards from Japan ini dikisahkan Samuel, seorang dosen yang sedang mengalami krisis eksistensial dan patah hati, yang tiba-tiba menerima serangkaian kartu pos misterius dari Jepang. Terinspirasi oleh pesan-pesan dari masa lalu tersebut, Samuel memutuskan untuk melakukan perjalanan ke Kyoto, sebuah kota yang keindahan klasiknya perlahan menyembuhkan jiwanya yang lelah. Di antara kuil-kuil kuno, taman yang tenang, dan hidangan yang tak terlupakan, ia bertemu dengan Mizuki yang begitu memikat hatinya. Mizuki membantunya melihat keindahan dalam ketidaksempurnaan. Perjalanannya bukan sekadar mencari pengirim kartu pos, melainkan sebuah pencarian jati diri yang membawanya pada pemahaman baru tentang arti kebahagiaan. Novel ini ditulis dengan kedalaman filosofi hidup dan harapan akan awal yang baru.
https://blog.periplus.com/2026/03/03/...
https://blog.periplus.com/2026/03/03/...
May 7, 2026
It had great Japanese concepts. Particularly the wabi-sabi one seemed fascinating to me. Makes you really want to sit and ponder on things around you.
I would recommend it for days when you just feel stuck. A bit boring for other days.
One thing that made it confusing for me was the discovery that Richard died drunk after finding out that his wife was sleeping with his best friend. And she’s healing from all this trauma by giving a foreigner “a night full of pleasure”??????? Making advances at him in the name of being a “modern geisha”???
Make it make sense to me.
I would recommend it for days when you just feel stuck. A bit boring for other days.
One thing that made it confusing for me was the discovery that Richard died drunk after finding out that his wife was sleeping with his best friend. And she’s healing from all this trauma by giving a foreigner “a night full of pleasure”??????? Making advances at him in the name of being a “modern geisha”???
Make it make sense to me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I received a copy of this book at the PLA Convention and had to start reading it right away. I fell in love with this little book about a man who is lost and receives postcards from Japan so he goes there to discover more about the person sending them. And he finds himself there but also a better person back home too.
Review of advance copy
Mildly interesting. Easy to read. Liveable characters and relatable.
May 13, 2026
At times I did not know where the story was heading, but I’m glad I carried on reading. The style of writing is simple, and the overall message is revealed at the end.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews