# The Left Hand of Darkness

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness/9781399638319

![The Left Hand of Darkness](https://quivercdn.com/covers/w-n/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness_978-13-9963-831-9.jpg?v=2026-04-28%2009%3A57%3A28)

- Book: [The Left Hand of Darkness](https://www.bookquiver.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness) ([The Left Hand of Darkness.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness.md))
- Authors: [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://www.bookquiver.com/ursula-k-le-guin)
- Publisher: w_n
- ISBN: 978-13-9963-831-9
- Pages: 1
- Published: 2026-05-14
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

'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