Never Let Me Go (novel)
First-edition cover of the British publication
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| Author | Kazuo Ishiguro |
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| Cover artist | Aaron Wilner |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Dystopian science fiction, speculative fiction |
| Publisher | Faber and Faber |
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Publication date
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2005 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 288 |
| ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 56058300 |
| 823/.914 22 | |
| LC Class | PR6059.S5 N48 2005 |
| Preceded by | When We Were Orphans |
| Followed by | Nocturnes |
Never Let Me Go is a 2005 dystopian science fiction novel by Japanese-born British author Kazuo Ishiguro. It was shortlisted for the 2005 Booker Prize (an award Ishiguro had previously won in 1989 for The Remains of the Day), for the 2006 Arthur C. Clarke Award and for the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award. Time magazine named it the best novel of 2005 and included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. It also received an ALA Alex Award in 2006. A film adaptation directed by Mark Romanek was released in 2010; a Japanese television drama aired in 2016.
The story begins with Kathy, a carer, talking about looking after donors. She has been a carer for almost twelve years at the time of narration, and she often reminisces about her time spent at Hailsham, a fictional boarding school in England, where the teachers are known as guardians. Along with classes, they often emphasize the importance of keeping healthy to their students—smoking is considered to be taboo, almost on the level of a crime, and working in the vegetable garden is compulsory. The curriculum appears to be like that of any other school, but there is great encouragement for the students to produce art. The art is then displayed in an exhibition, and the best artwork is chosen by a woman known to the students as Madame. The students speculate that she keeps their work in a gallery.
The story revolves around three Hailsham students: Kathy, and two others, Ruth and Tommy, who develop a close but complicated friendship. Kathy develops a fondness for Tommy, looking after him when he is bullied and having private talks with him. However, Ruth and Tommy begin a romantic relationship during their time at the school that continues when they leave.
In an isolated incident, Miss Lucy, one of the guardians, talks to the students about their goals and their true purpose: to provide organs to others, a cycle of donations that will consume their lives. This results in Miss Lucy's removal from the school, though it causes only subtle disturbance in the students, who were raised with the notion.
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