Here is the complete suite of five linked stories from Ursula K. Le Guin’s acclaimed Hainish series, which tells the history of the Ekumen, the galactic confederation of human colonies founded by the planet Hain. First published as Four Ways to Forgiveness, and now joined by a fifth story, the tales focus on the twin planets Werel and Yeowe – two worlds whose peoples, long known as “owners” and “assets,” together face an uncertain future after civil war and revolution. A retired science teacher must make peace with her new neighbour, a disgraced revolutionary leader. A female official from the Ekumen arrives to survey the situation on Werel and struggles against its rigidly patriarchal culture. The coming of age of Havzhiva, an Ekumen ambassador to Yeowe, is Le Guin’s most sustained description of the Ur-planet Hain. Rakam, born an asset on Werel, must twice escape from slavery to freedom. And a charismatic Hainish embassy worker, who appears in two of the four original stories, returns for a tale of his own.
