“ Remains of the Day” author Kazuo Ishiguro’s “ Nocturnes” is five stories ‘of Music & Nightfall’, capturing the passing of years in compassionate prose that looks closely at the human condition. In “ Nocturnes” Kazuo Ishiguro explores ideas of love, music & the passing of time. From the piazzas of Italy to the Malvern Hills, a London flat to the ‘hush-hush floor’ of an exclusive Hollywood hotel, the characters we encounter range from young dreamers to cafe musicians to faded stars, all of them at some moment of reckoning. Gentle, intimate & witty, this quintet is marked by a recurring theme: the struggle to keep alive a sense of life’s romance, even as one gets older, relationships flounder & youthful hopes recede.