The Story
In this second novel in the Annals of the Western Shore trilogy, Ursula K. Le Guin brings readers a haunting and gripping coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of violence, intolerance, and magic.
Ansul was once a peaceful town filled with libraries, schools, and temples. But that was long ago, and the conquerors of this coastal city consider reading and writing to be acts punishable by death. And they believe the Oracle House, where the last few undestroyed books are hidden, is seething with demons.
But to seventeen-year-old Memer, the house is a refuge, a place of family and learning, ritual and memory--the only place where she feels truly safe.
Then an Uplands poet named Orrec and his wife, Gry, arrive, and everything in Memer's life begins to change. Will she and the people of Ansul at last be brave enough to rebel against their oppressors?
Voices is a novel that readers will not soon forget.
"Le Guin's crystalline prose and her ability to dramatise political and spiritual issues of our time are unequalled." --Amanda Craig, London Times
"As always, Le Guin's language is as airy and sensuous as her concerns are weighty and abstract, every sentence as precise as a spade cut." --Elizabeth Ward, The Washington Post
"Barbarians-versus-brainiacs may be well-trod turf, but Le Guin sure-footedly makes it new. She creates a protagonist with obvious appeal to her intended audience: a geeky girl with bad hair but a quick intelligence, who nurses a seething contempt for the illiterate thugs who run everything." --Anne Boles Levy, Los Angeles Times
The Annals of the Western Shore Trilogy includes:
-
GiftsVoicesPowers
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Clarion Books
Published: 04/01/2008
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.56lbs
Size: 6.98h x 5.10w x 0.94d
ISBN: 9780152062422
Audience: Young Adult
Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.9
Point Value: 11
Interest Level: Middle Grade Plus
Quiz #/Name: 109693 / Voices
About the Author
Le Guin, Ursula K.: -
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contributions to American Letters. Her body of work includes twenty-three novels, twelve volumes of short stories, eleven volumes of poetry, thirteen 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 the Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master Award, along with a PEN/Malamud Award and many other accolades. In 2016 she joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America.
Description
In this second novel in the Annals of the Western Shore trilogy, Ursula K. Le Guin brings readers a haunting and gripping coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of violence, intolerance, and magic.
Ansul was once a peaceful town filled with libraries, schools, and temples. But that was long ago, and the conquerors of this coastal city consider reading and writing to be acts punishable by death. And they believe the Oracle House, where the last few undestroyed books are hidden, is seething with demons.
But to seventeen-year-old Memer, the house is a refuge, a place of family and learning, ritual and memory--the only place where she feels truly safe.
Then an Uplands poet named Orrec and his wife, Gry, arrive, and everything in Memer's life begins to change. Will she and the people of Ansul at last be brave enough to rebel against their oppressors?
Voices is a novel that readers will not soon forget.
"Le Guin's crystalline prose and her ability to dramatise political and spiritual issues of our time are unequalled." --Amanda Craig, London Times
"As always, Le Guin's language is as airy and sensuous as her concerns are weighty and abstract, every sentence as precise as a spade cut." --Elizabeth Ward, The Washington Post
"Barbarians-versus-brainiacs may be well-trod turf, but Le Guin sure-footedly makes it new. She creates a protagonist with obvious appeal to her intended audience: a geeky girl with bad hair but a quick intelligence, who nurses a seething contempt for the illiterate thugs who run everything." --Anne Boles Levy, Los Angeles Times
The Annals of the Western Shore Trilogy includes:
-
GiftsVoicesPowers
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Clarion Books
Published: 04/01/2008
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.56lbs
Size: 6.98h x 5.10w x 0.94d
ISBN: 9780152062422
Audience: Young Adult
Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.9
Point Value: 11
Interest Level: Middle Grade Plus
Quiz #/Name: 109693 / Voices
About the Author
Le Guin, Ursula K.: -
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contributions to American Letters. Her body of work includes twenty-three novels, twelve volumes of short stories, eleven volumes of poetry, thirteen 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 the Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master Award, along with a PEN/Malamud Award and many other accolades. In 2016 she joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America.
