Author(s): Kazuo Ishiguro

Novel | Western Europe

By the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go  

Ryder, a renowned pianist, arrives in a Central European city he cannot identify for a concert he cannot remember agreeing to give. But then as he traverses a landscape by turns eerie and comical - and always strangely malleable, as a dream might be - he comes steadily to realise he is facing the most crucial performance of his life.

Ishiguro's extraordinary and original study of a man whose life has accelerated beyond his control was met on publication by consternation, vilification - and the highest praise.

Review: "A novel that captures the peculiar landscape of dreams with an accuracy few other authors have come close to. . . . What does recur is [Ishiguro's] exquisitely attuned rendering of human fragility, the tragedy of self-deceit, and the almost unbearable poignancy in people trying, despite setbacks and injured pride, to get things right." -The Paris Review
"Elegantly written, mischievously funny, teasingly provocative, and enigmatic: Ishiguro's challenging portrayal of the isolated artistic temperament simultaneously reveals its naked contingent humanity. A brilliant novel that will almost certainly be remembered as one of the best of the decade." -Kirkus Reviews