Cloud Cuckoo Land - by Anthony Doerr

About the Book

"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 fish-and the book. Outside the city walls, Anna meets Omeir, a village boy who was conscripted, along with his beloved pair of oxen, to fight in the Sultan's conquest. His oxen have died; he has deserted. In Lakeport, Idaho, in 2020, Seymour, a young activist bent on saving the earth, sits in the public library with two homemade bombs in pressure cookers-another siege. Upstairs, eighty-five-year old Zeno, a former prisoner-of-war, and an amateur translator, rehearses five children in a play adaptation of Aethon's adventures. On an interstellar ark called The Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault with sacks of Nourish powder and access to all the information in the world-or so she is told. She knows Aethon's story through her father, who has sequestered her to protect her. Konstance, encased on a spaceship decades from now, has never lived on our beloved Earth. Alone in a vault with sacks of Nourish powder and access to "all the information in the world," she knows Aethon's storythrough her father. Like Marie-Laure and Werner in All the Light We Cannot See, Konstance, Anna, Omeir, Seymour, the young Zeno, the children in the library are dreamers and misfits on the cusp of adulthood in a world the grown-ups have broken. They through their own resilience and resourcefulness, and through story. Dedicated to "the librarians then, now, and in the years to come," Anthony Doerr's Cloud Cuckoo Land is about the power of story and the astonishing survival of the physical book when for thousands of years they were so rare and so feared, dying, as one character says, "in fires or floods or in the mouths of worms or at the whims of tyrants." It is a hauntingly beautiful and redemptive novel about stewardship-of the book, of the Earth, of the human heart"--

Book Synopsis

On the New York Times bestseller list for 19 weeks * A New York Times Notable Book * A Barack Obama Favorite * A National Book Award Finalist * Named a Best of the Year by Fresh Air, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Associated Press, and many more--one of the ten books that appeared on the most lists for 2021

"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 2021, Anthony Doerr's gorgeous third novel 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 Cloud Cuckoo Land, Doerr has created a magnificent tapestry of times and places that reflects our vast interconnectedness--with other species, with each other, with those who lived before us, and with those who will be here after we're gone.

Thirteen-year-old Anna, an orphan, lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople in a house of women who make their living embroidering the robes of priests. Restless, insatiably curious, Anna learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds a 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. This she reads to her ailing sister as the walls of the only place she has known are bombarded in the great siege of Constantinople. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, miles from home, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the invading army. His path and Anna's will cross.

Five hundred years later, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno, who learned Greek as a prisoner of war, rehearses five 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. She has never set foot on our planet.

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 gravest danger. Their lives are gloriously intertwined, and Doerr's dazzling imagination transports us to worlds so dramatic and immersive that we forget, for a time, our own. Dedicated to "the librarians then, now, and in the years to come," Cloud Cuckoo Land is a beautiful and redemptive novel about stewardship--of the book, of the Earth, of the human heart.

Review Quotes

Praise for Anthony Doerr and CLOUD CUCKOO LAND

*FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION*

A New York Times Notable Book, Barack Obama favorite, and selected as a Best Book of the Year by Time, Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly, Goodreads Choice Awards, BookPage, Library Journal, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oprah Daily, Cosmopolitan, NPR.org, Publishers Lunch, Publishers Weekly, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Tor.com, Polygon, Tattered Cover, Toronto Star, Chicago Public Library, Erie Reader, Fresh Air, Globe & Mail, KUER RadioWest, Parade, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, Columbus Dispatch, Broomfield Enterprise, and Distractify!

"Readers will come away from it with a greater appreciation for those invisible qualities that have bound human life across the ages--the love of a good story and the joy of returning home."
--Samantha Spengler, Wired

"There's no book like Cloud Cuckoo Land... As with all of Doerr's books, the characters [in Cloud Cuckoo Land] are beautifully described, the story is mesmerizing, and the carefully-crafted tapestry of themes pulls characters and time periods together into an incandescent whole--tempting the reader to start over as soon as the book is finished."
--Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Forbes

"Simply put, Cloud Cuckoo Land had me spellbound. Doerr has created a treasure chest of stories."
--Barbara Lloyd McMichael, OurCoast

"Beautiful and enthralling, a masterpiece . . . . If you love books, you'll love this book."
--Rebecca Bennett, Austin American-Statesman

"This novel is fearless and boundless in its ambition. It's like Homer meets Borges aboard Noah's Ark."
--Arturo Serrano, Nerds of a Feather

"A deft and intricately woven tale [and] one of the most memorable books of the year."
--Ron Sylvester, Spokane Spokesman-Review

"Not just the best book of the year (or most years), the novel is also a great read. Doerr works literary magic to tell three cleverly entwined stories set centuries apart, celebrating children, and the natural world, and always, especially, libraries. We'll be talking about this one for a long time."
--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Realism may be the dominant American literary mode, but leave it to Anthony Doerr to push us out of our comfort zone. His passion for myth and fable lights up this panoramic epic, as an ancient manuscript braids three disparate strands: the 1453 siege of Constantinople, present-day Idaho, and a 22nd-century starship careening away from a poisoned Earth. Doerr's prose casts a spell; his world-building is both defiant and tender, a virtuosic meditation on the alchemy of books. Come for the magician's tricks, stay for the exquisite storytelling."
--Hamilton Cain, Star Tribune

"Cloud Cuckoo Land is a soul-piercing masterpiece that examines what it means to be human with profound empathy."
--Winnipeg Free Press

"It feels wonderful . . . to spend a few days losing oneself in an exquisitely built book."
--Eve Andrews, Grist

"Another masterful novel from Anthony Doerr."
--Dean Poling, Valdosta Daily Times

"Divinely inspired storytelling."
--Melony Carey, Muskogee Phoenix

"Anthony Doerr is not just a master of storytelling. He is, arguably, a magician. . . . There's no need to dream of a beautiful land, up above the clouds, to escape 2021 for a few hours. Anthony Doerr's magic, captured in the pages of this thrilling, lovely, deeply satisfying book, will take you there."
--Gail Pennington, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Of all our contemporary fiction writers, Anthony Doerr is the one whose novels seem to be the purest response to the primal request: tell me a story. . . . [Cloud Cuckoo Land] transports us far above the stars, and down into the mud. It dazzles, and disturbs. And I for one wanted Doerr's vast and overwhelming story to last much, much longer."
--Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air

"In Cloud Cuckoo Land, [Doerr] writes a marvel of a story himself, filled with gorgeous language and distinctive characters. He sweeps readers in and gives us the enveloping experience of living in another world. . . . [A] great novel." --Maureen Corrigan, Wall Street Journal

"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

"The greatest joy in [Cloud Cuckoo Land] comes from watching the pieces snap into place. It is an epic of the quietest kind, whispering across 600 years in a voice no louder than a librarian's."
--Jason Sheehan, NPR.org

"A seamless tapestry . . . . Ultimately, Doerr seeks to remind us of the many ways we are tied to the natural world."
--Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times

"A trip well worth taking with the inimitable Doerr."
--Rob Merrill, Associated Press

"Packed with lush details and a gripping narrative."
--Keziah Weir, Vanity Fair

"Cloud Cuckoo Land is bound to leave as indelible a mark on readers as All the Light We Cannot See."
--Alessia Santoro, PopSugar

"Doerr's creation lifts off quickly, soars, and then, like the various wildfowl wheeling through the story, lands with practiced finesse. . . . Fueled by deep imagination and insistent compassion, Doerr weaves together his storylines with brisk pacing that never feels rushed."
--Erin Douglass, Christian Science Monitor

"The novel is a celebration of the way in which books enable us to connect with the past - and a warning about how fragile their survival has always been in a world in which those in power pursue war or harm the environment."
--The Daily Express

"This engagingly written, big-hearted book is a must-read - immersive popular fiction that breaks boundaries and makes you look at the world a bit differently."
--The Daily Mirror

"A paean to stories as a source of sustenance and solace, and to the sweetness of our shared terrestrial home, Doerr's narrative is buoyant with humanity and it's author's palpable pleasure in invention."
--Stephanie Cross, The Daily Mail

"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)

"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

"[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

"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

"A magical (and hopeful) tale of humanity."
--People

"Ambitious and complex . . . . [Doerr] weaves it all together beautifully."
--Angela Haupt, Washington Post

"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

"For his next act, Anthony Doerr wrote a book about everything."
--New York Times

"Epic and profound."
--Claire Martin, People Magazine

"Stunning . . . deeply imagined . . . a novel about how people find hope in the midst of chaos and fear, and how books themselves might be the best things humans have ever done."
--Samantha Schoech, San Francisco Chronicle

"As intimate as a bedtime story, a love letter to libraries and bibliophiles."
--O Magazine

"Anthony Doerr's talent for deftly weaving the criss-crossed stories of adults and children will tug at your heartstrings and remind you of the power of resilience and hope."
--Ashley Leath, Country Living

"A dazzling epic of love, war, and the joy of books."
--The Guardian

"A sweeping epic."
--K.W. Colyard, Bustle

"[An] ambitious, genre-busting novel."
--Sarah McCraw Crow, BookPage (starred review)

"A novel of epic stature and ambition."
--Emerson Malone, Buzzfeed

"[In Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr] takes his talents to the epic."
--Seija Rankin, Entertainment Weekly

"Worth the seven-year wait. . . . Will leave you in awe."
--Tierney Bricker, EOnline

"[An] imaginative, time-bending tale."
--Lesley Kennedy, CNN.com

"If you're looking for a superb novel, look no further."
--Bethanne Patrick, Washington Post

"Sweeping and atmospheric."
--Time

"A poignant story told with heart and wit, . . . [with] short, lively chapters [that] move at a lively clip."
--Kristyn Kusek Lewis, Real Simple

"[A] sweeping literary fiction novel exploring past, present, and future through the lives of young people on the cusp of adulthood. . . . This is a novel unlike any other."
--Rachel Brittain, BookRiot

"[An] intricately braided story . . . [and] a stunning, mind-bending tale of survival and how closely we're all connected."
--Lizz Schumer, Good Housekeeping

"[Cloud Cuckoo Land] is as extreme a departure as they come, but so original you won't care."
--Los Angeles Times

"A welcome read that is a celebration of both resilience and hope told from the perspective of children set worlds (and times) apart. An unforgettable epic from a master storyteller at the top of his craft."
--B&N Reads

"Doerr's first book since his Pulitzer Prize-winning All the Light We Cannot See and even grander in conception and delivery . . . . [Cloud Cuckoo Land] is a glorious golden mesh of stories that limns the transformative power of literature and our need to both dream big and arrive back home in a world that will eventually flow on without us. Highly recommended."
--Library Journal, starred review

"Doerr builds a community of readers and nature lovers that transcends the boundaries of time and space ... This is just one of the many narrative miracles worked by the author as he brings a first-century story to its conclusion in 2146. As the pieces of this magical literary puzzle snap together, a flicker of hope is sparked for our benighted world."
--Kirkus, starred review

"Doerr demonstrates a singular gift for bringing these complex, fully realized characters to empathetic life in this brilliantly imagined story, which moves backward and forward in time ... One of the joys of reading Cloud Cuckoo Land is discovering the threads that link the five characters' lives, which ultimately cohere in ways that are simply unforgettable, as is this amazing gift of a novel."
--Booklist, starred review

"Doerr returns with a deeply affecting epic. . . . [Cloud Cuckoo Land] is a marvel."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

About the Author

Anthony Doerr is the author of 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.