Miss Lambert Steps Aboard Danger

by Kazuo Ishiguro

From one of the great storytellers of our time, an exquisite spy novel—a disarming and memorable caper, in which not everything is quite as it seems.

At first, I took you for a charming jewel thief.

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.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical, Mystery, Adult, British Literature, Literary Fiction

240 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication March 9, 2027

About the author

Sir Kazuo Ishiguro (カズオ・イシグロ or 石黒 一雄), OBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist of Japanese origin and Nobel Laureate in Literature (2017). His family moved to England in 1960. Ishiguro obtained his Bachelor's degree from the University of Kent in 1978 and his Master's from the University of East Anglia's creative writing course in 1980. He became a British citizen in 1982. He now lives in London.

His first novel, A Pale View of Hills, won the 1982 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize. His second novel, An Artist of the Floating World, won the 1986 Whitbread Prize. Ishiguro received the 1989 Man Booker prize for his third novel The Remains of the Day. His fourth novel, The Unconsoled, won the 1995 Cheltenham Prize. His latest novel is The Buried Giant, a New York Times bestseller. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2017.

His novels An Artist of the Floating World (1986), When We Were Orphans (2000), and Never Let Me Go (2005) were all shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

In 2008, The Times ranked Ishiguro 32nd on their list of "The 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945". In 2017, the Swedish Academy awarded him the Nobel Prize in Literature, describing him in its citation as a writer "who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world".

Reviews

[Lottie]

inject this directly into my veins NOW

[Liz Hein]

I’ll be honest, at the start, I was like why are these characters bursting into song? I’m unsure if I’d have kept going with another author, but in Ish we trust. And oh did he deliver. This reminded me most of The Unconsoled (though I’m not a completist) with a bit of Butler Stevens in there. It is FUNNY. It turns nearly slapstick at times 🐟 . But what’s so powerful about this, and about what Ishiguro does in general, is how intentional that ridiculousness is. It’s going somewhere, and it’s going somewhere with a lot of depth of deeply connected historical and contemporary commentary. I can’t stop thinking about it.

[Kyle]

Gimme
Gimme
Gimme

[jacob]

this guy has RANGE

[Sevi]

I’m seated. The bookstore employees are scared and asking me to leave because it’s ‘not March 9, 2027 yet’ but I’m simply too seated.

[ColleenSC (colleenallbooks)]

Thank you AA Knopf for an eARC. This light spy story felt old-fashioned yet experimental. I could see that Ishiguro was influenced by classic films and musicals. As a musical fan myself, I loved how characters burst into song and dance periodically throughout the story. The main character, with his bumbling yet romantic presence, reminded me of Hastings from Christie’s Poirot stories. With all the period choices, there is a sense of nostalgia, but it’s a nostalgia tinged with a darker awareness that not everything about the British Empire is worthy of nostalgia. I enjoyed this book and had fun reading it.

[Caolan Lynch]

Enjoyed this Agatha Christie-esque spy thriller with deeper underlying themes of personal connections and the way in which people share deeper feelings. Undercurrent of the values lost by society due to WWII. Not what I expected from my boy Ish.

[Creed Taylor]

Early access on edelweiss.

I found this to be charmingly delightful, and then all of a sudden, the epilogue brought a wave of emotion I wasn’t ready for. I really liked this book

[Kim van Alkemade]

Ishiguro conducts this musical novel with the flair of a band leader. You'll be tempted to dance with the book in your hands as the hijinks unfold in this delightful story. Lighthearted on the surface, but set during the rise of fascism in Germany, you'll love following these characters as they step into danger for the sake of all that is good and English.

[Alfread]

ARC Review from Faber

To the surprise of no one, Ishiguro has done it again.

A 1930s rompy crime and espionage thriller with train shenanigans and high stakes spy drama is so far removed from the more speculative tendencies of Never Let Me Go/Klara and the Sun, rather it feels like a return to his earlier work and a spiritual sequel to the flashbacks in The Remains of the Day.

Comedy doesn’t seem to get enough praise in the critical space so I applaud Ishiguro for delivering a certified knee-slapper, made all the more comical by the sheer juxtaposition when you imagine that this is the same person who conceptualised teenage clones having their vital organs harvested.

Richard Hadley, our accidental hero, whose chance meeting with Miss Lambert is the catalyst for this Hitchockian musical of an adventure, where characters will randomly burst into song as a creative ode to the jubilance of a pre-WW2 Europe. This book really bottles the gleeful performances that we saw in his Nocturnes anthology and spliced it with the whimsy of The Unconsoled to create a love letter to this early Hollywood era of cinematic atmosphere and storytelling.

For me where this story truly shines is the dialogue. The chemistry between Richard and Miss Lambert is infectious and watching their relationship pan out, especially in the epilogue years later, it’s such a perfect nod to those people who pass in and out of your lives that make you wonder what could have been. The fact that it’s one of his shortest books and it’s filled with cheeky slapstick, you run the risk of missing out on some very real and profound messages about reliving your glory days and the historical hurt throughout much of 20th century Europe.

We’re living in such depressingly dark days so that overall sense of yearning for a simpler time in the past is something that many of us can relate to in this book but it ends with the optimism that the best is still to come, which is a hope that we really need to hold onto.

Ishiguro is already a legend of the Booker Library but I would not be surprised if we see him grace the Longlist yet again in 2027. Miss Lambert Steps Aboard Danger is a beginning-to-end delight, from a man whose literary talent seems to transcend both genre and mood.

(I also got to meet Ishiguro and he’s lovely!)

[Thaizi Ono]

It's difficult not to get excited about a new Kazuo Ishiguro novel.

What intrigues me most is that this doesn't sound like a conventional spy thriller. From the synopsis, it feels more like an Ishiguro novel wearing the clothes of a spy story—where the real mystery lies in perception, misunderstanding, and the slow realization that not everything is as it seems.

The 1938 setting is another reason I'm looking forward to it. Pre-war Europe is already filled with dramatic tension, and that feels like the perfect backdrop for Ishiguro's layered storytelling.

I'm also especially curious about the dialogue between Richard Hadley and Miss Lambert. Ishiguro has spoken about his admiration for the dialogue between men and women in films of this era, so I'm hoping for fascinating characters and conversations rich with subtext.

Of course, this is all speculation before publication, but if the synopsis is any indication, this could be one of the most distinctive literary espionage novels in recent years. It's easily one of my most anticipated reads.

[NadaCambia]

can somebody please put me in a cryo chamber until March 2027 thx

[Robin]

Interesting tale and good writing. But not one of my favorites by Ishiguro.

[Diana Froehlich]

A musical is hidden in this book. That was a first for me. So beautifully written. Miss Lambert is a smart, witty and passionate spy. She always takes the lead. I loved it.

[Natalie Turner-Wyatt]

Ishiguro is a masterful writer and there’s nothing of his I wouldn’t read. This is much lighter fare, but clever, fun and engaging. Very much enjoyed it.