Earthsea: The First Four Books

byUrsula Le Guin, Ngadi Smart (Illustrator)

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'One of the literary greats of the 20th century' - Margaret Atwood

Earthsea: The First Four Books is a collection of one of the most beloved and influential fantasy works of all time. The series follows two main characters: Ged, who grows from an arrogant boy to one of the most powerful mages Earthsea has ever known; and Tenar, who escapes her fate as a child-priestess, and must fight for a life of her own.

Filled with soaring, dangerous and beautifully-spun magic; evocative, sweeping settings; and extraordinarily vivid, emotionally complex characters, once read, the Earthsea series will never be forgotten.

Praise for The Tombs of Atuan (book two) 'A fantasy adventure that's actually a feminist horror thriller.'
Entertainment Weekly

About Ursula Le Guin

Ursula Le Guin was born in Berkley, California, in 1929, daughter of the writer Theodora Krober and the anthropologist Alfred Krober. Her published work includes twenty-one novels, eleven volumes of short stories, three collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation. Among her novels are the The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, both winners of the Nebula and Hugo awards, Always Coming Home, winner of the 1985 Kafka Award, and Four Ways to Forgiveness. In 2009 she won her sixth Nebula award for Powers. She died in January 2018 aged 88.

Penguin/Puffin published the first volume of the Earthsea books, A Wizard of Earthsea, in 1971. The Earthsea books have been translated into many languages around the world and are global bestsellers.

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About Ngadi Smart (Illustrator)

Ngadi Smart is a Sierra-Leonean visual artist and designer based between London, UK, and Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Her practice consists of illustration, photography and design. She also works as a mixed-media artist, primarily in the form of collage art. In her illustration work, she is motivated by the representation of minorities, highlighting cultural identity and racial discrimination, as well as themes on feminism and gender roles. She likes to deconstruct mainstream society's views of what is 'normal', 'beautiful' and 'right'. She has illustrated for the Atlantic, Time Out London, Eastpak and the Guardian, among others.

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