cover image The Remains of the Day

The Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro. Vintage Books USA, $14.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-679-73172-6

Stevens, an elderly butler who has spent 30 years in the service of Lord Darlington, ruminates on the past and inadvertently slackens his rigid grip on his emotions to confront the central issues of his life. PW called this Booker Prize-winner ``a tour de force--both a compelling psychological study and a portrait of a vanished social order.'' Author tour. (Sept.)