Although Ishiguro's novels are arguably more overtly concerned with emotional and psychological matters than with historical ones, it is certainly no accident that he sets all of his novels, as Margaret Atwood maintains, against tenebrous historical backdrops.

Are you ridgy-didge? - Do you really mean that? Are you telling the truth?

The home secretary of the day, the bumptious Sir William Joynson-Hicks, took it upon himself to attend the house, a formality dating from the 17th century to ensure no impostors were substituted, ostensibly to ensure all was well, and he proclaimed the news publicly, even though the government was then in mid-crisis over the forthcoming general strike.

One law enforcement official played down Mr. Defreitas’s ability to carry out an attack, calling him “a sad sack” and “not a Grade A terrorist.”