Tehanu

Tehanu , initially subtitled The Last Book of Earthsea, is a fantasy novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, published in February 1990 by Atheneum. It is the fourth of her Earthsea novels, written nearly twenty years after the first three novels. It was followed by further Earthsea stories, even though its subtitle initially proclaimed it as the last. The novel is viewed as an enlargement of the earlier Earthsea trilogy (marketed for young adults), as Tehanu presents an aging hero and heroine—Ged, a principal character in all three earlier Earthsea novels, and Tenar, the protagonist of the second in the series, The Tombs of Atuan. Tehanu won the 1990 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1991 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. Tehanu has been called Le Guin's best novel, featuring greater depth of characterisation than did her earlier books. Critics have commented that the novel responds to the first three Earthsea books, moving from male-oriented high fantasy to a feminist exploration of what Simone de Beauvoir called "immanence", a woman's situation in the world.