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.
Praise for Cloud Cuckoo Land:
'Sets him comfortably alongside Tolkien, Rowling and David Mitchell, and he is a much more elegant writer than two of those ... Cloud Cuckoo Land is an impressive achievement and a joy to read. Serious novels are rarely this fun.' The Times
'There is a kind of book a seasoned writer produces after a big success: large-hearted, wide in scope and joyous. Following his Pulitzer winner All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr's Cloud Cuckoo Land is a deep lungful of fresh air - and a gift of a novel' Guardian
'A paean to stories as a source of sustenance and solace, and to the sweetness of our shared terrestrial home, Doerr's narrative is buoyant with humanity and it's author's palpable pleasure in invention' Daily Mail
'A humane and uplifting book for adults that's infused with the magic of childhood reading experiences. Cloud Cuckoo Land is ultimately a celebration of books, the power and possibilities of reading' New York Times
'Cloud Cuckoo Land is a fascinatingly ambitious tale that's worth the seven year wait' Stylist
'Pulitzer Prize-winner Anthony Doerr's new novel traverses time and space, unifying his characters through a text written by Diogenes in the first century AD. Cloud Cuckoo Land begins there and sweeps through the millennia in a huge, imaginative arc that celebrates the outsiders, the writers and the keepers of books. An ultimately hopeful and life-affirming novel about the essence of love, literature and art' Irish Independent
'This is a dazzling epic of love, war and the joy of books - one for David Mitchell fans' Guardian
'Wonderment and despair, love and destruction and hope - all find their place in its sumptuously plotted pages' Observer
'Sets him comfortably alongside Tolkien, Rowling and David Mitchell, and he is a much more elegant writer than two of those ... Cloud Cuckoo Land is an impressive achievement and a joy to read. Serious novels are rarely this fun.' The Times
'There is a kind of book a seasoned writer produces after a big success: large-hearted, wide in scope and joyous. Following his Pulitzer winner All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr's Cloud Cuckoo Land is a deep lungful of fresh air - and a gift of a novel' Guardian
'A paean to stories as a source of sustenance and solace, and to the sweetness of our shared terrestrial home, Doerr's narrative is buoyant with humanity and it's author's palpable pleasure in invention' Daily Mail
'A humane and uplifting book for adults that's infused with the magic of childhood reading experiences. Cloud Cuckoo Land is ultimately a celebration of books, the power and possibilities of reading' New York Times
'Cloud Cuckoo Land is a fascinatingly ambitious tale that's worth the seven year wait' Stylist
'Pulitzer Prize-winner Anthony Doerr's new novel traverses time and space, unifying his characters through a text written by Diogenes in the first century AD. Cloud Cuckoo Land begins there and sweeps through the millennia in a huge, imaginative arc that celebrates the outsiders, the writers and the keepers of books. An ultimately hopeful and life-affirming novel about the essence of love, literature and art' Irish Independent
'This is a dazzling epic of love, war and the joy of books - one for David Mitchell fans' Guardian
'Wonderment and despair, love and destruction and hope - all find their place in its sumptuously plotted pages' Observer