AVAILABLE NOW:
Finalist for the National Book Award
Shortlisted for the British Book Award
winner of Le Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine, France
shortlisted FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY PRIZE, IRELAND
Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for excellence in fiction
finalist for le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire, France
finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction
A NEW YORK times notable book of 2021
A time best book of 2021
An npr/Fresh Air Best book of 2021 by Maureen corrigan
an Entertainment weekly Best Book of 2021
an oprah daily best book of 2021
one of barack obama’s favorite books of 2021
Winner of the 2022 Ohioana Book Award for Fiction
Finalist for the Barnes & NoBLE Book of the YeaR
A #1 IndieNext Pick for October 2021
“[Cloud Cuckoo Land is] a wildly inventive novel that teems with life, straddles an enormous range of experience and learning, and embodies the storytelling gifts that it celebrates. . . . A humane and uplifting book for adults that’s infused with the magic of childhood reading experiences.”
—MARCEL THEROUX, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
“If you’re looking for a superb novel, look no further.”
–BETHANNE PATRICK, WASHINGTON POST
Five protagonists dwell in the heart of Cloud Cuckoo Land: Anna and Omeir, on opposite sides of the city walls during the 1453 siege of Constantinople; teenage idealist Seymour and octogenarian Zeno in an attack on a public library in present-day Idaho; and Konstance, on an interstellar ship bound for an exoplanet, decades from now. Like Marie-Laure and Werner in All the Light We Cannot See, Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders who find resourcefulness and hope in the midst of peril. A book written in ancient Greek—the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky—provides solace and mystery to these unforgettable characters.
Doerr’s dazzling imagination transports us to worlds so dramatic and immersive that we forget, for a time, our own. He has created a tapestry of times and places that reflects our vast interconnectedness—with other species, with each other, with those who lived before us, and those who will be here after we’re gone.
Dedicated to “the librarians then, now, and in the years to come,” Cloud Cuckoo Land is a paean to the extraordinary human capacity to transmit stories from generation to generation and a novel about stewardship—of books, of our shared planet, and of the human heart.
“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.”
–Elizabeth knox, The guardian
“In a big fiction year . . . ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ stands out. . . . Doerr’s characters are astoundingly resilient, suggesting that we may yet save ourselves, with literature an essential tool.”
—hamilton Cain, Boston Globe
“‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ is an impressive achievement and a joy to read. Serious novels are rarely this fun. In a world where nature and stories are more precious than ever, this fine book is an education, a comfort, and inspiration.”
—melissa Katsoulis, The Times (UK)
“Sprawling and ambitious and imaginative. . . . [Doerr] is a writer with the rare ability to achieve the universal and the specific simultaneously. His stories, both vast and intimate, are dazzling, sometimes dizzying in their scope. . . . [‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’] is unlike anything you’ve ever read.”
—samantha Schoech, san francisco chronicle
“A tour de force of a novel . . . recalling Jorge Luis Borges, Umberto Eco, and Ursula K. LeGuin. . . . A literary salon to which all manner of storytellers and readers are invited.”
–Jenny McPhee, AirMail Weekly