description: England, 1930s. Christopher Banks has become the country's most celebrated detective, his cases the talk of London society. Yet one unsolved crime has always haunted the mysterious disappearance of his parents in Old Shanghai when he was a small boy. Now, as the world lurches towards total war, Banks realizes that the time has come for him to return to the city of his childhood and at last solve the mystery - that only by his doing so will civilization be saved from the approaching catastrophe. Moving between London and Shanghai, WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS is a story of memory, intrigue, and the need to return; of a childhood vision of the world surviving deep into adulthood, indelibly shaping and distorting a person's life. "Good writers abound - good novelists are very rare. Kazuo Ishiguro is that rarity." (New York Times)
language: English
title: When We Were Orphans
titlecomplete: When We Were Orphans
characters: Akira, Mr Grayson, Aldra, Colonel Chamberlain, Wang Ku, Miss Givens, Sarah Hemmings, Christopher Banks, Sir Cecil Medhurst, Mr MacDonald, Diana Banks, Etsuko, Jennifer, Mei Li, Anthony Morgan, Mr Lin, Inspector Kung, Lady Beaton, James Osbourne, Mr Banks, Uncle Philip
genres: Historical, China, Contemporary, Novels, Literature, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Literary Fiction, British Literature, Mystery
ratings_count: 39221
places: Shanghai, London, England
awards: awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Booker Prize, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Whitbread Award
category: Novel
publisher: Books on Tape