'A magic of words' Neil Gaiman
Set in the same universe as The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, these five linked stories follow far-future human colonies living in the distant solar system.
Here is the complete suite of five linked stories from Ursula K. Le Guin's acclaimed Hainish series, which tells the history of the Ekumen, the galactic confederation of human colonies founded by the planet Hain. First published as Four Ways to Forgiveness, and now joined by a fifth story, the tales focus on the twin planets Werel and Yeowe - two worlds whose peoples, long known as "owners" and "assets," together face an uncertain future after civil war and revolution.
A retired science teacher must make peace with her new neighbour, a disgraced revolutionary leader. A female official from the Ekumen arrives to survey the situation on Werel and struggles against its rigidly patriarchal culture. The coming of age of Havzhiva, an Ekumen ambassador to Yeowe, is Le Guin's most sustained description of the Ur-planet Hain. Rakam, born an asset on Werel, must twice escape from slavery to freedom. And a charismatic Hainish embassy worker, who appears in two of the four original stories, returns for a tale of his own.
'As good as any contemporary at creating worlds, imaginary or our own' TIME Magazine
Contains the short story, 'The Daughter of Odren', published in print for the first time, and the brand new story 'Firelight'.
Now for the first time ever, all together in one volume, The Books of Earthsea, contains the early short stories, Le Guin's 'Earthsea Revisioned' Oxford lecture, and new Earthsea stories, never before printed. With a new introduction by Le Guin herself, this essential edition will also include over fifty illustrations by renowned artist Charles Vess, specially commissioned and selected by Le Guin, to bring her refined vision of Earthsea and its people to life in a totally new way.
- 1,008 pages
- 56 illustrations (including seven lavishly coloured plate sections)
- maps of Earthsea
- stunningly beautiful endpapers
- Six novels
- 4 short stories
- An essay
Stories include: 'A Wizard of Earthsea', 'The Tombs of Atuan', 'The Farthest Shore', 'Tehanu', 'Tales From Earthsea', 'The Other Wind', 'The Rule of Names', 'The Word of Unbinding', 'The Daughter of Odren', and 'Earthsea Revisioned: A Lecture at Oxford University
