Published in 2009, Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall is a short story cycle by the Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro. The book interlinks five narratives, the protagonists of which include a once-famous American singer, a language teacher who loves music, a commercially unsuccessful saxophonist, an aspiring songwriter, and a gifted young cellist. As these characters navigate the intersections of art, relationships, and identity in settings that range from Venice to Beverly Hills, Ishiguro explores themes such as The Conflict Between Artistic Integrity and Commercial Demands, Performance as a Mask for Vulnerability, and The Melancholy of Unfulfilled Potential.

Before becoming a celebrated novelist, Kazuo Ishiguro pursued a career as a singer-songwriter, a background that provides an authentic emotional core to the collection’s focus on the working lives of musicians. He has continued this passion by writing song lyrics for American jazz singer Stacey Kent. Ishiguro is one of the most acclaimed authors in contemporary English literature, having received the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature and the 1989 Booker Prize for his novel The Remains of the Day. He is also known for celebrated novels such as Never Let Me Go and An Artist of the Floating World. Nocturnes stands as his first and only collection of short fiction, a form he uses to build a sustained, melancholic mood across its interconnected narratives.

This guide refers to the 2010 Vintage International edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of racism, suicidal ideation, and mental illness.

Plot Summary

In “Crooner,” a Polish guitarist named Jan works as a freelance musician for the cafe orchestras in Venice’s Piazza San Marco. He meets the famous American singer Tony Gardner, who was his late mother’s favorite musician. Jan approaches Gardner, and they talk about his mother’s devotion to Gardner’s records. Gardner’s wife, Lindy, joins them, and a tense exchange reveals friction in their marriage. After Lindy leaves to shop, Gardner asks Jan to accompany him on guitar that evening to serenade Lindy from a gondola beneath the window of their rented palazzo.

That night, Jan meets Gardner, and they drift through the canals, while Gardner describes how Lindy wanted to marry a celebrity. Despite ulterior motives, Tony and Lindy fell in love during their marriage. Gardner sings three songs to Lindy, and they hear Lindy sobbing from inside. Gardner reveals that this is their last trip together before they divorce. Gardner feels he must marry a younger woman to stage a career comeback. He wants Lindy to find a new life before she is too old. Jan hears the couple has divorced months later.

In “Come Rain or Come Shine,” Ray, a 47-year-old English teacher, visits his old university friends, Charlie and Emily, in London. He and Emily once shared a deep bond over their love for the Great American Songbook. Ray arrives to find their apartment a mess and their marriage in crisis. Charlie asks Ray to stay with Emily for a few days while he goes to Frankfurt on business. Charlie believes Emily is disappointed in his career and wants Ray to serve as a friend whose life seems less successful, making Charlie look better by comparison.

After Charlie leaves, Emily treats Ray as if he is on the verge of a mental health crisis. She leaves to fix a problem at work, and Ray finds her notebook, in which she calls him pathetic and laments his visit. He crumples the page, panics, and calls Charlie, who concocts an elaborate cover story. Ray must mess up the apartment and claim that a neighbor’s destructive dog, Hendrix, caused the damage. Charlie confesses that he is thinking about having an affair with a dentist. Following Charlie’s increasingly frantic instructions over several phone calls, Ray brews a foul-smelling concoction and gets on all fours to chew magazines. Emily returns early and finds him chewing a magazine, a sight she misinterprets as a complete mental collapse. Ray tries to confess about the notebook, but she dismisses it as unimportant. That evening, remembering Charlie’s warning not to discuss music, Ray feigns indifference to the Sarah Vaughan record Emily plays. His apparent loss of their shared passion deeply distresses her. He reassures her of Charlie’s love, and they dance on the roof terrace, where Emily resolves to make things right with her husband.

In “Malvern Hills,” an aspiring singer-songwriter spends the summer writing songs at a cafe in the Malvern Hills, run by his sister, Maggie, and her husband, Geoff. He finds inspiration in the hills but dislikes the cafe work. His hated former teacher, Mrs. Fraser, visits the cafe, and he learns she now runs a failing bed-and-breakfast. A Swiss couple, Tilo and Sonja, come to the cafe. Tilo is cheerful, but when Sonja complains about slow service, the narrator recommends Mrs. Fraser’s B&B to them.

While playing guitar on a hillside, the narrator is approached by the couple. They are enthusiastic, revealing they are professional musicians who were moved by his music. The narrator feels guilty for sending them to the Malvern Lodge and tries to persuade them to move, but they refuse. The following day, the narrator finds Sonja alone, and she tells him she and Tilo had an argument about their differences, culminating in Tilo suggesting a divorce. Tilo has walked off alone. Sonja warns the narrator of the disappointments of an artistic life before she departs. The narrator is left watching Tilo in the distance before returning to his own unfinished song.

In “Nocturne,” Steve, a talented but commercially unsuccessful saxophonist, is recovering from cosmetic surgery in an exclusive wing of a Beverly Hills hotel, his face completely bandaged. The surgery was his manager Bradley’s idea to fix Steve’s “ugly” appearance and was paid for by the new boyfriend of Steve’s estranged wife, Helen. Steve only agreed because Bradley sold him a far-fetched theory that Helen would return to him after the surgery. Steve’s bandaged neighbor is the celebrity Lindy Gardner, who recently separated from renowned singer Tony Gardner. She invites Steve to her suite, and when he plays her a CD of his music, she reacts with cold dismissal.

At night, Lindy calls, apologizing and claiming that Steve’s music was so brilliant it made her jealous. She presents him with a stolen “Jazz Musician of the Year” award, which was meant for a rival saxophonist whom Steve despises. Insisting that they must return it, Steve and Lindy sneak through the hotel. They are nearly caught by security, but Lindy quickly hides the award inside a turkey. They escape to an unfinished suite and fall asleep. At dawn, they return to find the turkey. Almost getting caught again, Steve grabs the award and flees with Lindy. Back in her room, Steve confesses his despair over his wife. Lindy advises him to focus on his career. Their friendship cools, and she checks out a few days later, leaving Steve to wait for his bandages to be removed.

In “Cellists,” a saxophonist in a Venetian cafe spots a man he recognizes as Tibor, a young Hungarian cellist he knew seven years earlier. The narrator and his bandmates befriended Tibor, a poor but gifted musician. Tibor was approached by Eloise McCormack, an elegant, older American woman who became his mentor, claiming to be a virtuoso. She gave abstract critiques that dramatically improved his playing. After days of practice with Eloise, Tibor grew suspicious that she could not actually play the cello.

Tibor accepted a job in Amsterdam but kept this decision from Eloise. His lessons resumed until Eloise confessed her secret: she believes she is an “unwrapped” virtuoso, born with a gift so profound that she has refused to play since age eleven for fear of having it ruined by mediocre teachers. She saw Tibor as one of the few who share this innate talent. Tibor arrived for his lesson one evening to find her with Peter Henderson, a suitor from America. Eloise seemed resigned to marrying Peter and wished Tibor luck. In the present, the narrator reflects that Tibor became arrogant after that summer. He sees that Tibor looks older and bitter.