The Recurring Cast
Character guide · 8 books · 1982 to 2021

Kazuo Ishiguro

Literary and generalLiterary fiction

Kazuo Ishiguro, winner of the Nobel Prize, writes quiet, devastating novels narrated by people who do not quite admit the truth to themselves: a butler looking back on a life of service, students at a strange English boarding school, an artificial friend.

Best estimate, compiled from series guides, publisher descriptions and reviews where available, and from memory otherwise. Book level only, not chapter level. Minor includes cameos and brief references. Each book carries a confidence rating in its tooltip. His novels are standalones; leads are charted per book.

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Who appears in which book

Click a name to follow that character from book to book, or a book title to see its cast.

LLeadMMajor·MinorHas a note
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Kazuo Ishiguro books in order

Each series in publication order, with its lead characters. Where the story runs in a different order, switch to Story order. Crossover books are marked and listed under their main series. Use My books to track what you have read.

Novels

8 booksLiterary fiction
  1. 1A Pale View of Hills1982With Etsuko · Set in NagasakiBuy on Amazon
  2. 2An Artist of the Floating World1986With Masuji Ono · Set in a Japanese cityBuy on Amazon
  3. 3The Remains of the Day1989With Stevens · Set in Darlington Hall, OxfordshireBuy on Amazon
  4. 4The Unconsoled1995With Ryder · Set in an unnamed European cityBuy on Amazon
  5. 5When We Were Orphans2000With Christopher Banks · Set in ShanghaiBuy on Amazon
  6. 6Never Let Me Go2005With Kathy H. · Set in the fictional Hailsham, EnglandBuy on Amazon
  7. 7The Buried Giant2015With Axl and Beatrice · Set in Post-Arthurian BritainBuy on Amazon
  8. 8Klara and the Sun2021With Klara · Set in an American cityBuy on Amazon

Characters

13 recurring and key characters, with the book each one first appears in.

Leads