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1-Page Summary of Never Let Me Go
Overview
Never Let Me Go is a novel that takes place in a dystopian world where people are cloned so they can donate their organs when they’re young adults. The story follows Kathy, who has been raised at an institution for future donors. She’s about to start her first donation, and she’s worked as a nurse and companion for clones between donations.
Kathy recalls her time at Hailsham, a boarding school. She had two best friends: Ruth and Tommy. Ruth was manipulative and dishonest; Tommy was kind but had a bad temper. Kathy remembers how their relationships changed over the years.
Hailsham emphasizes art, writing, and other forms of creativity. A mysterious woman named Madame comes to take the best pieces away for an off-campus Gallery. Tommy is not good at these things and never gets anything into the Gallery, which is part of why he’s ostracized. One day when he’s thirteen, Miss Lucy tells him it’s okay if he has trouble being creative because it doesn’t matter anyway. Kathy is shocked by this.
Kathy talks about Ruth’s lying. She explains that Ruth pretended to be good at chess when she wasn’t, and also that she lied about a gift from her favorite teacher. However, Kathy becomes friends with her anyway, and when she loses her favorite cassette tape––which features a song called “Never Let Me Go”––Ruth tries to help find it.
Lucy tries to warn the students of how difficult their lives will be once they become donors. However, the students do not understand it because they are young. Tommy and Ruth begin dating each other when they’re sixteen years old. Kathy is jealous but hides her feelings for Tommy. After a few months, the students graduate from Hailsham and move into The Cottage where they can drive cars and live more freely than at school.
In the novel “Never Let Me Go”, Ruth gets caught up in impressing her peers, especially Chrissie and Rodney. She does this by going on a trip with them to Norfolk. They confront Ruth about a rumor that if two Hailsham students are truly in love, they can get their donations deferred so they might have a few years together. No one has heard of this program but Ruth pretends she knows all about it.
Tommy and Kathy decide to go their separate ways from the rest of the group. Tommy suggests that they look in secondhand stores for a lost tape that Kathy used to love, and they find it there. This moment is very emotional for both of them because they have grown closer together. Meanwhile, Ruth notices this growing affection between Tommy and Kathy, so she tries to break them up by telling Tommy that Kathy doesn’t like his drawings or his sense of humor, which isn’t true at all; she also tells Kathy that he couldn’t fall in love with someone who has had casual sex before him—which is also not true at all.
Kathy is sad to hear the news. She volunteers to be a carer, and after some time, she hears that Ruth has started donating and isn’t doing well. Kathy decides to go see her anyway.
Ruth asks Kathy to take her somewhere that’s several hours away. Kathy agrees, and they stop by Tommy’s place so he can give his donations. Ruth wants them all to be together again, because she thinks it will help them get the deferral that will allow them more time together. She gives them an address of a woman who might be able to help with their deferral applications, and tells them that Madame is someone who can do this for people in their situation.
Kathy and Tommy continue their lives as normal, until Kathy makes a discovery that will change everything. She finds out that the deferral program never existed and Hailsham was actually a cover-up for an activist organization trying to show the world that clones have souls. However, funding ran out and Hailsham lost its reputation.
