The Remains of the Day is a profoundly compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his fading, insular world postwar England. At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving ;a great gentleman. ; But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington's ;greatness ; and graver doubts about his own faith in the man he served. A tragic, spiritual portrait of a perfect English butler and his reaction to his fading insular world in post-war England. A wonderful, wonderful book.

本书是著名英国籍日裔小说家石黑一雄的代表作之一，曾获1989年“布克奖”。史蒂文斯作为一名追奇求完美的男管家，一战前后服务于达林顿府三十余年。在此期间，他一方面尽力使自己成为男管家中的杰出人物，追求这一阶层所特有的“尊严”，同时，他也为此付出了相当的代价，比如说不得不冷漠地处理父子亲情，盲目忠实于其主人达林顿却无视后者一度与纳粹交往甚密、甚至帮助极右势力的现实。这种盲目使他甚至失去了与心

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day .

Kathy, Ruth and Tommy were pupils at Hailsham - an idyllic establishment situated deep in the English countryside. The children there were tenderly sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe they were special, and that their personal welfare was crucial. But for what reason were they really there? It is only years later that Kathy, now aged 31, finally allows herself to yield to the pull of memory and try to make sense of the past. What unfolds is an extraordinarily powerful story in which Kathy, Ruth and Tommy slowly come to realise that it is their seemingly happy childhood that has haunted them ever since, even tainting their adult lives. Part love story, part mystery, "Never Let Me Go" is a uniquely beautiful and troubling novel, charged throughout with a profound emotional depth.

《上海孤儿》讲述的是这样一个故事：20世纪30年代的英国，主人公班克斯·克利斯托夫已经是闻名全国的大侦探，是伦敦上流社会人人称道的探案高手。然而，他本人内心却始终有一件离奇悬案难以释怀，那便是童年时代父母在旧上海扑朔迷离的失踪案。他生于20世纪初的上海，当时父亲受聘于一家势力强大的英国跨国贸易公司。十岁之前，班克斯的童年在外国租界度过。当时的上海虽然充满动乱，租界却是相对安宁太平的世外桃源，日夜有父母、保姆和佣人悉心照顾，还有邻居日本小伙伴山下哲与其朝夕相处。父亲公司所从事的丧尽天良的贩卖鸦片活动尽管遭到母亲的强烈反对，却并未对他的生活造成太大影响。可是，班克斯无忧无虑的童年生活在九岁时随着一场突然变故宣告结束。父母神秘失踪，先是父亲，然后是母亲，杳无踪影，毫无线索。在回忆中，他一直认定母亲对英国公司贩卖鸦片活动毫不留情的批评态度和仗义执言的勇敢立场是造成父母相继失踪的原因。班克斯成了孤儿，只好被迫前往英国与姑妈同住，内心始终梦想着有朝一日回到上海，把父母失踪案弄个水落石出。虽然这一成为福尔摩斯式大侦探的稚气愿望在整个少年时代不断遭人耻笑，却丝毫没有动摇他的决心。对他而言，这个人生目标决不是白日梦式的痴心妄想，而是一个必须完成的使命。完成学业后，他很快成为伦敦上流社会炙手可热的大侦探，虽然是“外来者”，却迅速成名，声望如日中天，同时还是一笔家族遗产的受益者和一名孤女的养父。 当二战的隆隆炮火威胁着远东和英国时，班克斯的使命感变得更加迫切，决心去勇敢面对自己的命运。他回到上海，相信父母尚在人世，决心破解父母失踪之谜，重新找回失落多年的天伦之乐。同时他异想天开地认为，只要自己能找到父母，使正义得到伸张，便能阻止世界大战。然而，此时上海已处在日军的步步进逼之中，重新把握过去的每一步都不断在印证着书中提到的女诗人意味深长的诗句：“一旦长大成人，童年便好比异国土地，离我们无比遥远。”故事在小说中另一重要人物菲力普叔叔令人不安的叙述中达到高潮。在一座不知名的房子里一间灯光暗淡的屋子里，随着他的讲述，主人公无法看到或不愿看到的东西慢慢浮出水面，一个惨痛的、略带讽刺意味的真相渐渐昭示在读者眼前：班克斯所深信不疑的有关父亲失踪案的背后原来只是个善意的谎言。母亲为保留他童年心灵的一块净土，和菲力普叔叔一道刻意让他相信父亲是个值得骄傲的英雄。而实际上，父亲并非如他所想，因为挺身而出，对公司老板在鸦片贸易中获取暴利的行为勇敢表示反对而遭人暗算。真相是：深爱着母亲的父亲因为性格弱点，不堪愿望与现实的折磨，与另外一个女人私奔，最后凄凉地死在异国。而母亲所作的一切牺牲、她所忍受的非人生活都只是出于一个单纯而感人的目的：为了班克斯能够好好活下去，为了他在成为失去双亲的孤儿后能够衣食无忧，并出人头地。也就是说，他所受的名校教育，他的所谓“遗产”和养尊处优的生活，他在侦探界骄人的名望以及在伦敦社交界的地位，全都是建立在母亲的苦难之上。真相大白之后，班克斯如梦方醒，终于看清自己的力量是多么的渺小和微不足道，看到自己妄想单枪匹马拯救世界的宏图大志是多么虚幻浅薄。

《石黑一雄作品:无可慰藉》为“石黒一雄作品系列”第四种，秉承石黒一雄的一贯风格，外表清淡，内心强大。小说描写一位钢琴演奏家在一座谜样的城市里所经历的谜样的几天。他忽而是旁观者，忽而又被卷入其中，所见之人无不一往情深却又执迷不悟；所遇之事无不怪异荒诞，充满变数。在这座人心为怪诞的艺术价值观所左右的城市里，在努力寻找梦境出口，为这一切寻求解释的过程中，他渐渐意识到自己正面临人生最为严酷的一场演奏。