Cloud Cuckoo Land
"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of perhaps the most bestselling and beloved literary fiction of our time comes a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring novel about children on the cusp of adulthood in a broken world, who find resilience, hope, and story. The heroes of Cloud Cuckoo Land are children trying to figure out the world around them, and to survive. In the besieged city of Constantinople in 1453, in a public library in Lakeport, Idaho, today, and on a spaceship bound for a distant exoplanet decades from now, an ancient text provides solace and the most profound human connection to characters in peril. They all learn the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to the paradise of Cloud Cuckoo Land, a better world. Twelve-year-old Anna lives in a convent where women toil all day embroidering the robes of priests. She learns to read from an old Greek tutor she encounters on her errands in the city. In an abandoned priory, she finds a stash of old books. One is Aethon's story, which she reads to her sister as the walls of Constantinople are bombarded by armies of Saracens. Anna escapes, carrying only a small sack with bread, salt
Themes & atmosphere
Also by Anthony Doerr
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What you might want to know about Cloud Cuckoo Land
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A lost Greek tale called Cloud Cuckoo Land threads through five lives across centuries: an outcast Bulgarian boy outside the walls of Constantinople, a small-town Idaho librarian, and a girl on a generation ship.
Cloud Cuckoo Land weaves five storylines across centuries, from 15th-century Constantinople to a far-future starship. Anthony Doerr's prose is accessible, but the time jumps require attention. Most readers find the convergence rewarding.
Both books are by Anthony Doerr but otherwise unrelated. Cloud Cuckoo Land shares his interest in libraries, lost knowledge, and lives separated by time, but the characters and plots are independent.
Cloud Cuckoo Land was written by Anthony Doerr, published in 2021 by Scribner.
Cloud Cuckoo Land is 656 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Cloud Cuckoo Land takes most readers 10 to 14 hours to finish.
Cloud Cuckoo Land is a standalone novel by Anthony Doerr, not part of a series.
Cloud Cuckoo Land is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.