Set against a backdrop of magic, violence and intolerance, VOICES is a superb, mesmerising coming of age story from one of the greatest writers of modern times.

'A tour de force' EVENING STANDARD

Ansul was once a peaceful town filled with libraries, schools and temples. But that was long ago, before the Alds came. The Alds believe demons hide in words and so they ban reading and writing, acts now punishable by death. What few books survive remain hidden by the Waylord, and his beloved adopted daughter Memer, a child born of violence.

But times are changing when two strangers arrive. Orrec is a story-teller, the most famous of all: he has the gift of making. His wife Gry's gift is that of calling; she walks with a halflion who both frightens and fascinates the Alds.

This is the story of Memer, of a conquered people craving freedom, and of the power of words.

'Le Guin is effortlessly at the top of her game. Voices... is a marvellously thoughtful and intelligent piece of fiction' Independent

"Le Guin's crystalline prose and her ability to dramatise political and spiritual issues of our time are unequalled" - The 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" - Washington Post

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

"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" - Los Angeles Times

"Effortlessly at the top of her game. Voices... is a marvellously thoughtful and intelligent piece of fiction. ... Le Guin's writing is spare and humane, her imagination forceful and dramatic, and her book is transparently the pick... of the summer" - Independent