Described by the New York Times as ‘an original and remarkable genius’, Kazuo Ishiguro is the author of six novels, including Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day.

Now in Nocturnes, a sublime story cycle, he explores ideas of love, music and the passing of time. From the piazzas of Italy to the Malvern Hills, a London flat to the ‘hush-hush floor’ of an exclusive Hollywood hotel, the characters we encounter range from young dreamers to cafe musicians to faded stars, all of them at some moment of reckoning.

Gentle, intimate and witty, this quintet is marked by a haunting theme: the struggle to keep alive a sense of life’s romance, even as one gets older, relationships flounder and youthful hopes recede.