The Beginning Place
core novel 1980 The Beginning Place
Record
| First published | 1980 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.53 (3,768 ratings, collected 2026-09-28) |
| Page count | 183 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780060125738 |
Synopsis
Hugh Rogers, stuck in an empty suburban life with his disturbed mother, runs from the house one evening and stumbles on a gateway in a nearby wood: a threshold into a country where it is always twilight and time runs far more slowly than outside. Irene Pannis found the same place at thirteen, fleeing her own troubled home, and for seven years she has crossed into it, learned its language and come to love the people of Tembreabrezi, the town on the mountain; she resents the newcomer as a trespasser. Told in alternating chapters from the two viewpoints, the novel follows the uneasy pair as the townsfolk, terrified of a shadow that has closed the roads around them, look to the strangers for help. Sent up the mountain together to face what the townspeople dare not name, Hugh and Irene must decide what they owe the twilight land and what they owe their own lives, and each other.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Beginning Place
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Notes
- Harper & Row, 1980; published in the UK as Threshold. A separate world from Earthsea and the Western Shore.
Sources
- Wikipedia
- Ursula K. Le Guin (official site)
- https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/literature-and-writing/beginning-place-ursula-k-le-guin
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