Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is a story told to us by our narrator Kathy in 1990s England, as she looks back on her adolescence beginning in a picturesque, rural boarding school. As the reminiscing begins, and unfolds, this could be any adolescence; the friendships, in particular with her best friends Ruth and Tommy, the rivalries, the teasing, the stirrings of young love. But something isn’t ringing right – their families never get mentioned, although references are made to ‘the outside’ in general, and some of the school activities are somehow off-kilter – and, as the story unfolds, the dark truth of the situation comes to light. With a sense of both subdued tension and a dignified kind of sadness running throughout, this novel is a skewed, haunting coming-of-age story, told to us looking back from a future time; exploring memory, questions of ethics in the name of progress, the nature of what makes us individuals, how we choose to live our lives when our destiny is predetermined, questions around what gives meaning to life, what art can reveal about the artist, and what could potentially be overcome with love. There is a calm, melancholic tone to Ishiguro’s writing style that leaves a quiet space for reflection on the abundance of profound themes explored through his stories.

My beautiful clothbound edition, published by The Folio Society in 2012, features haunting, multi-layered illustrations by Kate Miller and an insightful, in-depth introduction by Claire Messud, which is probably best read after you know this story’s big reveal!

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Never Let Me Go was first published in 2005 by Faber.

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Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. His nine works of fiction have earned him many honours around the world, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Booker Prize. His work has been translated into over fifty languages and The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, both made into acclaimed films, have each sold over a million copies in Faber editions. He received a knighthood in 2018 for Services to Literature. He also holds the decorations of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star from Japan. His latest novel, Klara and the Sun, was published in 2021.