Like all Ishiguro books, the simplistic narrative style belies the complex issues and themes of this book. I enjoyed it and will be thinking about it for a long time, but didn’t find it an easy read. Klara is a really interesting character, and I liked the way that the world itself is not explained in any detail, leaving the reader to deduce what’s going on.
This novel in verse tells the story of Allison, a teenager who flees her abusive father. When she ends up friendless and alone in Cornwall, her unlikely saviour is an elderly woman with dementia, who thinks Allison is her childhood friend, Toffee.
Both scary and revelaing, this book tells the story of the rise to power of Christian nationalists in the USA, from the witch trials to the 'satanic panic' to politics today.