Orsinian Tales
Ursula K. Le Guin
The place is Orsinia, a land of medieval keeps standing guard above walled cities, and of railways stretching across karsts to vanish in mountains where the old gods still live.
Read Time: ~3.6 hr
The Spectator Bird
by Wallace Stegner (1976)
About this book
Joe Allston is a retired literary agent who is, in his own words, "just killing time until time gets around to killing me." His parents and his only son are long dead, leaving him with neither ancestors nor descendants, tradition nor ties. His job, trafficking the talent of others, had not been his choice. He passes through life as a spectator. A postcard from a friend causes Allston to return to the journals of a trip he had taken years before, a journey to his mother's birth-place where he'd sought a link with the past. The memories of that trip, both grotesque and poignant, move through layers of time and meaning, and reveal that Joe Allston isn't quite spectator enough.
Setting / LocationGlobal
Story EraLate 20th Century
Protagonist / CoreNotable Characters
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