<P> The story begins with Kathy, who describes herself as a "carer", talking about looking after organ donors . She has been a carer for almost twelve years at the time of narration, and she often reminisces about her time spent at Hailsham, a boarding school in England, where the teachers are known as guardians . Along with classes, they often emphasize the importance of being healthy to their students--smoking is considered to be taboo, almost on the level of a crime, and working in the vegetable garden is compulsory . The curriculum appears to be like that of any other school, but there is great encouragement for the students to produce art . The art is then displayed in an exhibition, and the best artwork is chosen by a woman known to the students as Madame . The students speculate that she keeps their work in a gallery . </P> <P> The story revolves around three Hailsham students: Kathy, and two others, Ruth and Tommy, who develop a close but complicated friendship . Kathy develops a fondness for Tommy, looking after him when he is bullied and having private talks with him . However, Ruth and Tommy begin a romantic relationship during their time at the school that continues when they leave . </P> <P> In an isolated incident, Miss Lucy, one of the guardians, talks to the students about their true purpose, because overheard conversations have suggested that they don't grasp it: they are clones who were created to provide organs to others, a cycle of donations that will end their lives when they are still young . This results in Miss Lucy's removal from the school, though it causes only subtle disturbance in the students, who are curiously accepting of their fate . </P> <P> At age 16, Ruth, Tommy and Kathy move to the Cottages, a poorly maintained residential complex where they begin contact with the outside world . Ruth and Tommy continue their relationship, and Kathy has some sexual, but shallow, relationships with other men . Kathy is concerned that her sex drive is abnormal, and, when Kathy confides this to her, Ruth deliberately encourages her to feel this way . </P>

Never let me go what are they donating