Kazuo Ishiguro examines guilt, truth and ageing through the highly subjective reminiscences of a retired painter in post-war Japan.

In 1948, Japan is rebuilding her cities after the calamity of World War II, her people putting defeat behind them and looking to the future. Celebrated painter Masuji Ono fills his days attending to his garden, his house repairs, his two grown daughters and his grandson, and his evenings drinking with old associates in quiet lantern-lit bars. His should be a tranquil retirement. But as his memories continually return to the past, a dark shadow begins to creep into his mind.

Shortlisted
The Booker Prize 1986
Published by
Faber & Faber
Publication date

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Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro

About the Author

Kazuo Ishiguro’s works of fiction have earned him many honours around the world, including the Nobel Prize in Literature.
More about Kazuo Ishiguro

Other nominated books by Kazuo Ishiguro

Klara and the Sun
Never Let Me Go
When We Were Orphans
The Remains of the Day
Prize winner