The Left Hand of Darkness

A groundbreaking feminist literary masterpiece

Ursula K Le Guin author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Orion Publishing Co

Published:14th May '26

Should be back in stock very soon

The Left Hand of Darkness cover

'Genre cannot contain Ursula Le Guin: she is a genre in herself' Zadie Smith

'Groundbreaking' Guardian

'No single work did more to upend the genre's conventions' Paris Review

A lone human emissary journeys from Earth to the planet of Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can choose - and change - their gender.

His goal is to secure Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilisation, but to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and the culture he encounters.

Forced into a perilous partnership with an outcast on a journey across the planet's bitter, whirling snow, he learns how survival, trust and love take shape in a world nothing like his own.

A visionary classic, The Left Hand of Darkness reshaped fiction with its radical exploration of gender, human connection and power.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION FROM DAVID MITCHELL

One of the best science fiction novels ever written -- George R.R. Martin
A jewel of a story -- Frank Herbert
Genre cannot contain Ursula Le Guin: she is a genre in herself -- Zadie Smith
Ursula Le Guin is a chemist of the heart
The exquisite prose . . . sings with every step. It is one thing to write a good story, or a great story. It is a whole other accomplishment, for an author of fiction, to write a true story -- Becky Chambers
A rich and complex story of friendship and love * Guardian *
One of the most extraordinary examples of soft-core sf . . . reflects the author's formidable background in anthropology as well as her overriding ethical and artistic concerns * New York Times *
No single story did more to upend the genre's conventions * Paris Review *
Le Guin's novel imagines how bridges can be built, chasms crossed. By the end, the book has changed us. Thus, the author not only demonstrates how to build worlds. She shows why we build worlds in the first place. * Tor.com *
As profuse and original in invention as The Lord of the Rings -- Michael Moorcock
Ursula Le Guin is a chemist of the heart -- David Mitchell

  • Winner of Nebula Award 1970 (UK)

ISBN: 9781399638319

Dimensions: 196mm x 128mm x 32mm

Weight: 300g

336 pages