Kazuo Ishiguro’s highly acclaimed debut, first published in 1982, tells the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter.

Retreating into the past, she finds herself reliving one particular hot summer in Nagasaki, when she and her friends struggled to rebuild their lives after the war. But as she recalls her strange friendship with Sachiko – a wealthy woman reduced to vagrancy – the memories start to take on a disturbing cast.

‘A macabre and faultlessly worked enigma.’ Sunday Times

‘One of the outstanding fictional debuts of recent years.’ Observer

‘A delicate, ironic, elliptical novel … Its characters are remarkably convincing … but what one remembers is its balance, halfway between elegy and irony.’ New York Times Book Review

‘An extraordinarily fine first novel … its themes are deceptively large and uncommonly haunting.’ Los Angeles Times