Hugh is trapped in suburbia and a dead-end job by his mother's fear. Desperate for escape, he goes running one night and finds a gateway into an idyllically fresh world. The clean water and air, the lack of humans, makes him return to it again and again. But he's not the only one to have found the gate--years ago, Irena discovered the way through while escaping from her gruesome step-father. She feels betrayed that someone else has found her secret spot, but the villagers who live in this perpetually twilit Arcadia are excited--he's the one they've been waiting for.The roads to the village have been closed by an unamable fear. The villagers are slowly starving, and only Hugh the outsider can get through the roads. Irena demands to go with him, and the two set off together.
On the one hand, this is a pleasingly realistic book. Hugh and Irena spend a lot of time getting lost in the woods, and their internal lives are perfectly described. On the other, not a lot happens, and what little happens is never explained. The story is a bit like Steinbeck's writing style crossed with Patricia McKillip at her most elliptical. This is my least favorite book by Le Guin. It's not bad, but it's not all that good, either.
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