On the New York Times bestseller list for over 20 weeks * A New
York Times Notable Book * A National Book Award Finalist * Named a
Best Book of the Year by Fresh Air, Time, Entertainment Weekly,
Associated Press, and many more
"If you're looking for a superb novel, look no further." --The
Washington Post
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All the Light We Cannot
See, comes the instant New York Times bestseller that is a "wildly
inventive, a humane and uplifting book for adults that's infused with
the magic of childhood reading experiences" (The New York Times Book
Review).
Among the most celebrated and beloved novels of recent times, Cloud
Cuckoo Land is a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring story
about children on the cusp of adulthood in worlds in peril, who find
resilience, hope, and a book.
In the 15th century, an orphan named Anna lives inside the formidable
walls of Constantinople. She learns to read, and in this ancient city,
famous for its libraries, she finds what might be the last copy of a
centuries-old book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a
bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. Outside the
walls is Omeir, a village boy, conscripted with his beloved oxen into
the army that will lay siege to the city. His path and Anna's will
cross.
In the present day, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno rehearses
children in a play adaptation of Aethon's story, preserved against all
odds through centuries. Tucked among the library shelves is a bomb,
planted by a troubled, idealistic teenager, Seymour. This is another
siege.
And in a not-so-distant future, on the interstellar ship Argos,
Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of
Aethon, told to her by her father.
Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders
whose lives are gloriously intertwined. Doerr's dazzling imagination
transports us to worlds so dramatic and immersive that we forget, for a
time, our own.
