Summary

This novel is set an untold number of years in the future. The protagonist is Klara, who is a type of sentient robot known as an ‘artificial friend’ (or ‘AF’ for short.) In Part One, she resides in a store, as she has not yet been purchased. Klara is the narrator and point-of-view character. She is highly observant, and she likes to watch people who pass by on the street in front of the store. She is friends with Rosa, another AF in the store who is waiting to be purchased. AFs are solar powered, so they occasionally need to sit in direct sunlight to recharge. One day, a girl who appears to be about 14 years old stops in front of the store and talks to Klara through the store window. The girl has a limp and is accompanied by her mother. The...