No.16 in the Millennium SF Masterworks series, a library of the finest science fiction ever written Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards 'Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power. She sets up enormous challenges and meets them fully; she invites, as Tolkien does, total belief' Observer 'To be read again and again' - The Times

One of the very best must-read novels of all time - with a new introduction by Roddy Doyle

'A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again' THE TIMES

'The book I wish I had written ... It's so far away from my own imagination, I'd love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin' Roddy Doyle

'Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power' OBSERVER

The Principle of Simultaneity is a scientific breakthrough which will revolutionize interstellar civilization by making possible instantaneous communication. It is the life work of Shevek, a brilliant physicist from the arid anarchist world of Anarres.

But Shevek's work is being stifled by jealous colleagues, so he travels to Anarres's sister-planet Urras, hoping to find more liberty and tolerance there. But he soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game.

"The book I wish I had written ... It's so far away from my own imagination, I'd love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin" - THE TIMES

"A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again" - THE TIMES

"A deeply imagined work of art" - Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

"Le Guin's book ... is so persuasive that it ought to put a stop to the writing of prescriptive Utopias for at least 10 years" - NEW YORK TIMES

"[Le Guin had] the heart of a poet who knew all too well the difference between miracle and eureka, revelation and revolution" - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"Le Guin's storytelling is sharp, magisterial, funny, thought-provoking and exciting, exhibiting all that science fiction can be" - Empire

"Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power" - OBSERVER