Five Ways to Forgiveness

A magic of words is a collection of five linked stories set in the same universe as "The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Dispossessed." The stories follow far-future human colonies living in the distant solar system and focus on the twin planets Werel and Yeowe, whose peoples face an uncertain future after civil war and revolution.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 07 March 2024
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

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 neighbor, 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"

Weight: 312g
Dimension: 129 x 197 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399620307