Kazuo Ishiguro

"From her place in the store that sells artificial friends, Klara--an artificial friend with outstanding observational qualities--watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass in the street outside. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara she is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans. In this luminous...

"The Romans have long since departed, and the Britian is steadily declining into ruin. But, at least, the wars that once ravaged the country have ceased. Axl and Beatrice, a couple of elderly Britons, decide that now is the time, finally, for them set off across this troubled land of mist and rain to find the son they have not seen for years, the son they can scarcely remember"--Dust jacket.

As elderly Briton couple Axl and Beatrice journey to visit the son they've not seen in years, they begin to remember the troubled past they share with their traveling companions--a Saxon warrior, his orphaned charge, and an illustrious knight.

The story of blind devotion and repressed love between a fanatically proper butler and a high-spirited, strong-minded young housekeeper employed by a British lord who is unwittingly a Nazi dupe.