Ishiguro has said that he wanted to write a novel about how society remembers and forgets. He uses France after the Second World War as an example. Yet, he decided to use Britain in 450 A.D. as the setting. Why do you think that is?

There's chivalry and honor, innocent children in the form of Edwin and Axl's and Beatrice's son who is so appalled by his mother's actions that he leaves home. The idealized setting, with ogres and dragons, also fits that of the medieval romance novel.