The latest novel in the Hainish cycle from the bestselling author of The Left Hand of Darkness.

Sutty, an Observer from Earth for the interstellar Ekumen, has been assigned to a new world — a world in the grips of a stern monolithic state, the Corporation. Embracing the sophisticated technology brought by other worlds and desiring to advance even faster into the future, the Akans recently outlawed the past, the old calligraphy, certain words, all ancient beliefs and ways; every citizen must now be a producer-consumer. Their state, not unlike the China of the Cultural Revolution, is one of secular terrorism.

Traveling from city to small town, from loudspeakers to bleating cattle, Sutty discovers the remnants of a banned religion, a hidden culture. As she moves deeper into the countryside and the desolate mountains, she learns more about the Telling — the old faith of the Akans — and more about herself.

With her intricate creation of an alien world, Ursula K. Le Guin compels us to reflect on our own recent history.

"[V]irtually flawless....This is a novel that aficionados of morally serious SF won't want to miss." Publishers Weekly

"In The Telling, Le Guin is at the top of her game. Her vision is clear and her observations precise. Her language, which sings true in every line, is simple and profound and her storytelling is sure..." The Los Angeles Times

"Everything that has been said about Le Guin — that she is a lush prose stylist, that she is a poet in every line, that her books make readers think and thinkers read — is here on display in her newest Hainish novel." Jane Yolen, two-time Nebula winner and author of The Books of Great Alta

"This is humanist SF at its best, Le Guin in top form." Faren Miller, Locus

"She can lift fiction to the level of poetry and compress it to the density of allegory — in The Telling, she does both, gorgeously." Jonathan Lethem

"Her books may have become less surprising over the years as her readers have come to know her better, but her clear, simple voice has intensified, too: an American Blake, a Northwestern Willa Cather." Newsday

"The usual mesmerizing Le Guin narrative and intensity of concept, but too one-sided to provoke resonance or plumb the depths." Kirkus Reviews

"This parable of the modern world's headlong rush toward monocultural sterility exemplifies the author's elegant simplicity and keen insight." Library Journal

The bestselling author of The Left Hand of Darkness delivers the latest novel in the Hainish Cycle. Sutty, an observer from Earth, has been assigned to a new world in which past beliefs are outlawed and every citizen must be a producer-consumer. Sutty discovers the remnants of a banned religion and a hidden culture and learns a lot about herself.

Ursula K. Le Guin was born in 1929 in Berkeley, California, and lives in Portland, Oregon. She has won many Nebulas and Hugos, as well as a National Book Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Newbery Honor, and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.