The Left Hand of Darkness

A brand new edition of Ursula Le Guin's groundbreaking work of science fiction - The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose habitants can change their gender

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

Review

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

About the Author

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was a celebrated author whose body of work includes 23 novels, 12 volumes of short stories, 11 volumes of poetry, 13 children's books, five essay collections, and four works of translation. The breadth and imagination of her work earned her six Nebula Awards, seven Hugo Awards, and SFWA's Grand Master, along with the PEN/Malamud and many other awards. In 2014 she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2016 joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America.