'One of the literary greats of the twentieth century' Margaret Atwood

'A work of extraordinary imagination and compassion' Atlantic

'The book I wish I had written' Roddy Doyle

Shevek, a brilliant physicist, was raised on Anarres, a barren moon with no government, army, laws, or police that has long been isolated from other worlds because of its rigid dedication to radical equality.

Shevek's work promises a breakthrough that could alter the course of human civilisation, but to realise it, he must journey to Urras: a planet dazzling in its beauty and advancement yet fractured by hierarchy.

Though initially welcomed by this unfamiliar civilisation, Shevek soon finds himself caught between competing visions of freedom, a bridge - and a threat - to both. In the conflict that ensues, he must reexamine his beliefs, even as he ignites the fires of change.

From the inimitable Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed is a true classic of the twentieth century, a moving story about what it means to return home and a must-read science fiction masterpiece.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION FROM RODDY DOYLE

"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

"This remains a challenging and urgent book" - Guardian

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

"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 is a writer of phenomenal power" - OBSERVER

"A seamless creation: everything is made up, nothing seems arbitrary" - New York Times Book Review

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

"One of our finest projectionists of brave old and other worlds" - Kirkus Reviews

"One of the great American political novels . . . Full of intrigue and drama" - LA Review of Books

"Written with thought, care - even love" - Times Literary Supplement

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

"The Dispossessed is still one of Sci-Fi's' smartest books . . . Remains a thoughtful exploration of politics and economics nearly 50 years later" - Wired

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

"Dystopia and utopia are entwined in Le Guin's story of hierarchy-bound Urras and its anarchist neighbour planet Anarres. With stylish prose and intellectual rigour, Le Guin charts the journey of young physicist Shevek, whose theories cause upheaval on both planets, as he struggles to survive, falls in love and contemplates human society" - i Paper

"A work of extraordinary imagination and compassion" - Atlantic

"Le Guin's most philosophical novel ... a study of character, ideology and the constant of change" - New York Times

"Le Guin's characters, especially Shevek and his family, are complex and haunting, and her writing is remarkable for its sinewy grace" - Time

"One of the most important science fiction novels of the last several years" - Library Journal

"THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS and THE DISPOSSESSED challenged me to reimagine what human culture might look like - challenged me to imagine how we might throw off the death grip of capitalism, and its attendant values of patriarchy and racism. In each of them, I was transported by Le Guin's prose - lyrical and rich and deliberate in its rhythms. And in each one of them, I found, there was a scene I stopped to reread, sometimes more than once - a scene so powerful it actually moved me to tears" - Literary Hub