Kathy, Ruth and Tommy were pupils at Hailsham - an idyllic establishment situated deep in the English countryside.

The children there were tenderly sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe they were special, and that their personal welfare was crucial.

But for what reason were they really there? It is only years later that Kathy, now aged 31, finally allows herself to yield to the pull of memory and try to make sense of the past.

What unfolds is an extraordinarily powerful story in which Kathy, Ruth and Tommy slowly come to realise that it is their seemingly happy childhood that has haunted them ever since, even tainting their adult lives.

Part love story, part mystery, "Never Let Me Go" is a uniquely beautiful and troubling novel, charged throughout with a profound emotional depth.