Hailsham is not like other boarding schools. The students and their guardians have a bit of a different relationship, and mystery shrouds not only their purpose but also the need for them to produce art which is then sent to a so-called gallery. The students are aware of their purpose – they are clones, intended to donate organs to others until they ‘complete’. Their lives will be spent first counselling other donors, and then donating themselves, in a literal sense. But nothing is overtly stated, and no one asks the questions that are really important.

Kathy, the narrator, tells her tale in the framework of her friendships with Tommy and Ruth, a young couple she attended Hailsham with. As they move out and begin their independent paths, the truth starts imposing on their dreams and they begin to look for answers no one will want to hear. But who will help them, when clones aren’t really thought of as humans?

I’ll admit it; much to my shame, I have neither read nor seen The Remains of the Day, Ishiguro’s most renowned previous work. I remember being small and seeing Anthony Hopkins’ face on a cardboard cut-out in Kinepolis, the giant cinema complex near my childhood home, but while I have the book on my Kindle I haven’t actually taken in the work that turned Ishiguro into a well-known literary staple. However, I had an – undoubtedly mistaken – idea of it as quite dry and somehow dusty. I found Never Let Me Go at a charity shop for an undeniable price, however, and snapped it up, and I haven’t looked back.

The story is compellingly written, and the first-person narrative commands your full attention from page 1. The innocence of the students and their curtailed social experiences don’t strike you as grating or strange; Ishiguro’s world-building is so complete and so convincing that you gladly and easily accept it. This allows the story to unfold as softly and gently as a butterfly’s wings.

The delicacy of Never Let Me Go is its most predominant feature. The tale is spun like a sugar confection, fragile and beautiful but most of all heart-stoppingly amazing. I started reading it on a Friday and finished it that same Saturday, reading non-stop because I simply had to know how it ended.

Of course, Never Let Me Go has been made into a film – a film I hope to see, soon – but I heartily recommend reading the book first. I’m told some of the nuances are lost in translation, so do yourself a favour and pick up this page-turner before you rent the DVD.

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