Scattered among poor, desolate farms, the clans of the Uplands possess gifts. Wondrous gifts: the ability-with a glance, a gesture, a word-to summon animals, bring forth fire, move the land. Fearsome gifts: They can twist a limb, chain a mind, inflict a wasting illness. The Uplanders live in constant fear that one family might unleash its gift against another. Two young people, friends since childhood, decide not to use their gifts. One, a girl, refuses...

Ursula K. Le Guin's haunting epic of survival, self-discovery, and hope is third in a sequence that begins with her PEN Award-winning Gifts. Young Gavie sometimes "remembers" the future. But as a slave living among those who feel threatened by the powers of the Marsh people, Gavie must hide his abilities. And then tragic events force the grief-stricken Gavie to flee the only world he's ever known. In his perilous quest for freedom, Gavie must learn...