Kazuo Ishiguro’s next novel, out next year, will be a 1930s spy caper.

Kazuo Ishiguro, the feted Nobel laureate behind Never Let Me Go and Remains of the Day, has announced his next novel.

Miss Lambert Steps Aboard Danger—a spy caper set in the 1930s—will be published by Knopf (US, Canada) and Faber (UK) on March 9, 2027. As The Guardian reports, “the novel follows Richard Hadley as he encounters the enigmatic Miss Lambert, and follows her to a conference at a hotel in Devon, and then on to a Scotland-bound train, where he encounters a school friend and a former Tory minister, among others.” Hmm!

Here’s the full description of the book from the publisher:

London, 1938. After attending a music hall matinee, Richard Hadley has an unexpected encounter with the mysterious Miss Lambert. Over a shared love of singing a strange connection is forged.

But when he follows her to a secretive conference at Marlborough House in Devon, Miss Lambert warns him that she’s on the brink of an important breakthrough and that he, understanding nothing, must not get in her way.

As an old school friend, a Tory ex-Minister, and an assortment of strangers on a train cross his path, it could be that Richard finds himself at the heart of something momentous, if only he can piece together what is going on.

And here’s a peek at the cover:

This is Ish’s first novel since 2021’s Klara and the Sun. But the man has kept busy. In 2024, he released an eccentric collection of song lyrics for an American jazz singer (The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain).

Meanwhile, a film adaptation of Klara starring Amy Adams and Jenna Ortega is underway, set to be released this October.

Will the beloved Booker winner known for his deceptively simple thematic explorations and capacious curiosity bring us gold again? Only time will tell.

See you at the indies next spring. Book clubs, assemble.