A carer remembers the boarding school where clones were raised to be cut open.
Who drives the story
A thirty-one-year-old carer and Hailsham graduate who narrates, choosing donors from Hailsham. She loves Tommy, loses him to Ruth, gets him back too late, and is left alone after Tommy completes.
The temperamental, artistically poor boy whose rage masks a desperate hope that his soul can be proven. He finally loves Kathy, is told there are no deferrals, and completes after his fourth donation.
The bossy friend who claims Tommy and keeps Kathy away from him for nearly ten years. Dying, she confesses and gives them Madame's address—her one act of repair.
Hailsham's head guardian, who emphasized health and luck while running a humane experiment. Elderly and living with Madame, she tells Kathy and Tommy there are no deferrals.
The aloof visitor who collects Hailsham's best artwork for her Gallery—and who once cried watching Kathy dance. She keeps the Gallery in her house and receives Kathy and Tommy with polite sadness.
Also in the story
The guardian who says out loud what everyone else won't: the students were created to donate their vital organs. She is removed from the school and never seen again.
How they are connected
She loves Tommy, loses him to Ruth, gets him back too late, and is left alone after Tommy completes.
She loves Tommy, loses him to Ruth, gets him back too late, and is left alone after Tommy completes.
The bossy friend who claims Tommy and keeps Kathy away from him for nearly ten years.
Dying, she confesses and gives them Madame's address—her one act of repair.
Elderly and living with Madame, she tells Kathy and Tommy there are no deferrals.
Elderly and living with Madame, she tells Kathy and Tommy there are no deferrals.
Miss EmilyMadame (Marie-Claude)
Elderly and living with Madame, she tells Kathy and Tommy there are no deferrals.
The aloof visitor who collects Hailsham's best artwork for her Gallery—and who once cried watching Kathy dance.
She keeps the Gallery in her house and receives Kathy and Tommy with polite sadness.
Go deeper
Mortality as a schedule · Told and not told · Art as proof of a soul · Love deferred, then denied
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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