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The Remains of the Day book cover
Literary Fiction · Melancholic

An English butler takes a road trip and looks back on his years of devoted service

The Remains of the Day

by Kazuo Ishiguro

1989258 pagesEasy readSlow pace
★ Booker Prize, 1989

A butler looks back on a life of service

In 1956 Stevens, the butler at Darlington Hall, takes a trip across England in his employer's car. Along the way he remembers the great house in the years between the wars, his loyalty to Lord Darlington and the housekeeper, Miss Kenton. It won the 1989 Booker Prize and was adapted as a 1993 film.

More about this book

Who

Stevens, the butler, and Miss Kenton, the housekeeper.

World

Darlington Hall and the English countryside in 1956.

What makes it different

The narrator reveals more than he means to.

Feel

Restrained and heartbreaking.

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Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition

Further reading

About the author

Kazuo Ishiguro1 book on Tori Books