Kazuo Ishiguro started to attend Woking Grammar School for Boys located in a small county in Surrey, England in 1965 when he was 11. He continued his education at this traditional English school until he went onto university at the University of Kent at Canterbury, and later at University of East Anglia to obtain his master’s in creative writing. Woking Grammar School was not a boarding school like depicted in Never Let Me Go, however its influence lives on throughout the novel. The novel starts with children being raised in a boarding style school, where they are raised from infancy into young adulthood, very similar to Ishiguro's own experience with traditional schools in England. Never Let Me Go 's staple indoctrination of the clones fits withing the strict regimen of a proper English school. Additionally, Surrey, England is part of the countryside and is very rich in natural landscape which is often depicted in Kathy H.'s driving thought monologues. This scenery provides a contrast of beauty and life in a world where clones are being harvested for their vital organs. We see images of Ishiguro's childhood of school and the countryside through Kathy's eyes as she contemplates life, love and the most precious time. Knowing this gives almost an additional layer of creepy dystopian reality knowing her fantastical descriptions were based off real tangible places. 

Image: Surrey Hills from Visit Surrey website. 

Image Source: https://www.visitsurrey.com/listing/newlands-corner/40472101/

Image: Woking Grammar School in 1918

Image Source: https://wokinggrammar.blogspot.com/2012/09/

Works Cited:

“Newlands Corner.” Visit Surrey, https://www.visitsurrey.com/listing/newlands-corner/40472101/. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

Nobel Prize. “Kazuo Ishiguro – Biographical.” NobelPrize.org, The Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2017/ishiguro/biographical/

Temple, Clive. “Woking County Grammar School for Boys: September 2012.” Woking County Grammar School for Boys Blog, 30 Sept. 2012, wokinggrammar.blogspot.com/2012/09/