Kazuo Ishiguro’s adventurous combination of historical fiction and detective story, set largely in England and Shanghai of the 1930s.

In 1930s England, Christopher Banks has become the country’s most celebrated detective; his cases are the talk of London society. Yet one unsolved crime has always haunted him: the mysterious disappearance of his parents in Old Shanghai when he was a boy. As the world lurches towards war, Banks realises the time has come for him to return to the city of his childhood and at last to solve the mystery - and believes that only by his doing so will civilization be saved from approaching catastrophe.

Shortlisted
The Booker Prize 2000
Published by
Faber & Faber
Publication date

Buy the book

We benefit financially from any purchases you make when using the ‘Buy the book’ links.

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
The Remains of the Day
Prize winner
An Artist of the Floating World