Le Guin continues to bring me home with her confident, clear unfolding of a classic Bildungsroman. Tenar's transition from a spiteful, dramatic and curious child into a young woman wrestling with questions and morality is simple and yet lovely. The book takes place largely as a discussion of different ways of life, and how a dark environment (metaphorically and literally, in this tale) inform a mind that is left to them. There are so many themes here of lost identity and reclaimed personhood; of darkness feeding on the empty places of the heart, and the redemption that occurs when one strikes out to find their purpose away from the expectations of rigid home life. I will return to speak on this more, I believe, as I do not think this is the last time in this series we will hear from Tenar.