Stevens reflects on his beloved past employer, Lord Darlington—and the Nazi sympathizer parties that Lord Darlington hosted in the 1920s and 1930s—as well as the complex relationship Stevens had with the housekeeper, Miss Kenton.
Written by Japanese British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day won the prestigious 1989 Booker Prize. The novel is told from the perspective of an aging butler named Stevens, who dedicated his life to Darlington Hall. Stevens reflects on his beloved past employer, Lord Darlington—and the Nazi sympathizer parties that Lord Darlington hosted in the 1920s and 1930s—as well as the complex relationship Stevens had with the housekeeper, Miss Kenton. Through this unreliable narrator, Ishiguro gets at the heart of the English identity and how dignified restraint can come at the cost of morality and happiness.