Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel

Anthony Doerr

Sep 2021 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

Zipping back and forth through time, Anthony Doerr links past, present and future in his recently published Cloud Cuckoo Land. Fantastically well-written and balanced, Doerr’s work contains multilayered symbolism and is packed with allusions to other works that pervade our culture. The unspooling story of Aethon and his quest to arrive in Cloud Cuckoo Land creates a connecting thread between disparate people. The author explores the endurance and resilience of stories throughout time, whether it be in written or verbal form. It espouses the idea that a classic story can fulfill the needs of each reader/listener due to its universality and flexibility. This particular fable survives the ravages of time, circumstance and neglect. Remnants of a damaged book are discovered by Anna who reads her interpretation of it to her sick sister during the siege of Constantinople in the 1450s. The tale then unites Anna and Omeir, formerly forced into opposing sides of the conflict, now mutually dedicated to preserving the tattered pages. The second plotline takes place in present-day Idaho, where the farcical story is adapted for a play. The children who become enrapt with Aethon’s adventure are rehearsing in the town library just when Seymour, a troubled teen, sparks a deadly protest. The third narrator is Konstance, a young pioneer being transported to another planet in the far future. She is on her own restoration mission to resurrect the tale she was told by her father. The reader will be enchanted by the characters and the book that is so influential in each of their lives. The characters are masterly crafted, sympathetic even when engaged in bad acts. Cloud Cuckoo Land is both a hero’s tale and a bildungsroman inviting its own preservation to be shared by readers— current and future.

About the author

Anthony Doerr is the author of the New York Times bestselling Cloud Cuckoo Land, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and All the Light We Cannot See, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Carnegie Medal, the Alex Award, and a #1 New York Times bestseller. He is also the author of the story collections Memory Wall and The Shell Collector, the novel About Grace, and the memoir Four Seasons in Rome. He has won five O. Henry Prizes, the Rome Prize, the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award, the National Magazine Award for fiction, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Story Prize. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Doerr lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife and two sons.