The Fictional School I Wished I Could Attend
In the early part of this year, Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro had a heavy media presence due to the release of his highly anticipated novel Klara and the Sun. In the lead up to its release, it seemed like his name was on every other podcast on my Spotify list, and he even made headlines over concerns that young writers may be self-censoring out of fear of being “trolled” or “cancelled”. But that’s a topic for another day…
I recently finished a re-read of one of Ishiguro’s earlier novels, Never Let Me Go. I first read the book ten or more years ago, and although I didn’t remember much of the story, which made for the perfect re-read, two things had stuck in my mind.
1. That it’s a dystopian novel with something slightly sinister lurking beneath the plot.
2. The striking portrayal of Hailsham, the school at which the first part of the book takes place, and continues to linger through the remainder of the novel.
From a young age, I’ve had a fascination with boarding schools. Of course, books like Malory Towers and Harry Potter idealise the boarding school experience, and whether I’d have enjoyed it in reality is another thing. Kazuo Ishiguro certainly paints a dazzling picture of Hailsham and tugs on the overly-romanticised English countryside boarding school trope.
Without giving the plot away, you shouldn’t want to go within five miles of Hailsham knowing the fate of its students and the reason they attend, but Ishiguro skilfully builds the school through the power it holds over the students, and has you wishing you’d sat in the Great Hall, taken the footpath round the back of the main house under the “ivy-covered arches”, or seen the view from the art room on a foggy morning.
“I’m a Hailsham student – which is enough by itself to sometimes get people’s backs up”
On the book’s opening page, before we’re even introduced to Hailsham, the school’s reputation is established, and it’s impossible not to get swept up in the pride that narrator Kathy and her friends radiate in chapters to come.
Hailsham students are at the envy of others of their kind, and the elusive circumstances under which you end up at such a school only adds to its implied elitism.
“Hailsham. I bet that was a beautiful place.”
Never Let Me Go isn’t an overly descriptive book – it’s much more focused on the narrative voice – but every now and then we get a glimpse into the school’s grand house and sprawling grounds. Although Hailsham is undeniably grand, its main building is frequently referred to as ‘the house’, giving it a simultaneously homely feel.
While much of the 2010 film adaptation doesn’t do justice to the novel, the setting of Ham House in Richmond for the exterior scenes is the perfect balance of striking yet intimate.
Hailsham’s grounds are reminiscent of English country gardens with narrow twisting paths, a rhubarb patch and a tranquil pond filled with “ducks and bulrushes and pond-weed.” Ishiguro contrasts these quintessential and peaceful spots with the “dark fringe of trees” from the woods on the hill behind the house that “cast a shadow over the whole of Hailsham”.
As we come to learn, life after Hailsham is bleak for its students, and this certainly emphasises the nostalgic radiance that coats memories of their time at school. Kathy refers to her early school years as a “kind of golden time” and mentions that even when she thinks of the bad times, she “can’t help feeling a kind of glow”.
“There was an unspoken rule that we should never even raise the subject in their presence”
Mystery is a big part of both the novel and a childhood at Hailsham. Though there is a sinister cause at the root of most of this mystery, you can’t help but get wrapped up in the students’ excitement at the stories they invent for themselves. These stories are passed down through generations of Hailsham students, becoming more twisted and fantastical with each retelling.
The students’ ignorance to the outside world also brings with it an appreciation for the simple things. Without families and homes to go to, Kathy and her friends rely on each other’s artwork and the monthly jumble sales to curate their belongings and form their own interests and individuality. After the year we’ve had, I think we can all appreciate how being confined to one space gives the little things so much extra value.
“Being dependent on each other to produce the stuff that might become your private treasures – that’s bound to do things to your relationships”
One of the things that always seemed most appealing about boarding school was getting to live with your best friends and experience sleepovers every night of the week, but I’m sure sharing a dorm with fourteen others and having no space of your own quickly loses its novelty.
Friendship is in fact a messy journey for Kathy, and her closest relationships come with many complications, from her early school years right through to the end of the book, but the descriptions of Kathy and her close friends’ intimate dorm room conversations that trail into the night are conveyed as a charming boarding school experience.
“There have been times over the years when I’ve tried to leave Hailsham behind, when I’ve told myself I shouldn’t look back so much. But then there came a point when I just stopped resisting.”
Although only the first third of the novel takes place at Hailsham, the school’s presence hangs heavily over the following chapters of Kathy’s life, and its impact on her identity seems irreversible.
Kazuo Ishiguro has previously addressed the meaning of the book’s title, Never Let Me Go, which comes from a song Kathy listens to during the novel, and although he explains that it’s to do with the impossibility of this ask and the “chasm between the yearning and what can be granted”, for me it also mirrors the hold Hailsham has on its students and the enchanting impression it leaves on the novel’s readers.
Fiction and Poetry
Written by Laura Elizabeth Colledge | www.illogicallines.co.uk | @illogicallines
Alongside working in marketing for a theatre publication, Laura writes book and theatre reviews, poetry and fiction. Her writing has been featured in Dear Damsels, Lunate, No Price Limit and a poetry anthology for charity. Laura is currently writing her first novel.