Never Let Me Go (Hardcover Collector's Edition)

★20th Anniversary Edition

Why do our souls crave
something we know is beyond our reach?

Nobel Prize in Literature laureate
──Kazuo Ishiguro──
The author's most beloved novel,
a masterful work spanning science fiction and romance, questioning the ultimate meaning of life.

Wu Ming-Yi, novelist and professor in the Department of Chinese Literature at National Dong Hwa University, provides a comprehensive introduction to Ishiguro's works.

Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth are three close friends who grew up together at Hailsham, a boarding school in England. Here, art is valued, creativity encouraged, and life is as idyllic as a pastoral. But all students actually carry a special mission—they are to leave the school when they grow up to perform what is called "donations," which is the very purpose for which they were created.

Years after leaving school, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy reunite. She begins to recall her time at Hailsham and gradually understands the true mysteries behind many past events. Life's countdown continues, and the complex entanglements between the three can no longer be suppressed. Between cold destiny and lingering hope, how can they hold onto each other and prove that all this is not an illusion?

Even if my fate is already sealed, I still want to pray to that beautiful world:
Please, don't let go of my hand so easily…
——Kazuo Ishiguro's decade-long gestation, an atypical sci-fi coming-of-age romance.

This is Kazuo Ishiguro's most widely loved work. The story unfolds with a love triangle between three young people, where youthful memories flow like ordinary school events, filled with peaceful and beautiful daily details, yet gradually piecing together a series of cruel truths. Behind the peculiar setting, it challenges human perceptions of the value of life and poses the sharpest yet tenderest questions about the boundaries of humanity.

"I stumbled upon this song title in Bill Evans' album 'Alone' and was immediately drawn to it... If someone pleads 'Never Let Me Go,' they are not only asking for something impossible, they must also know they are asking for something no one can give. I wanted to embed this poignancy at the core of my novel. Because sometimes, deep in their souls, humans crave things they know are beyond their reach." ──Kazuo Ishiguro