Sonja Kaiblinger brings Vienna coffeehouse culture to first adult novel

Author Sonja Kaiblinger has turned to an adult audience for the first time with “The Sweet Chestnut Trouble,” a romantic comedy set in autumnal Vienna and closely linked to traditional coffeehouse culture, ORF’s Burgenland service reports.

Kaiblinger, who has attracted attention in recent years with frightening fantasy stories for children, wrote the novel in a coffeehouse. She describes such places as meeting points where people encounter one another and start conversations.

The novel follows Anja, who runs a traditional coffeehouse but is struggling to keep it alive. When a modern coffeehouse chain opens next door, she exchanges sharp words with its owner. In reality, however, the two share a secret.

Kaiblinger also wrote the book to process the loss of her father, who died in 2023. She said writing the novel for him felt natural and that she experienced his presence as comforting while she worked. Despite its origins in grief, she said, the book is not sad.