In the third book of Doris Lessing’s Canopus in Argos series, Earth continues to evolve under manipulation by advanced extra-terrestrial civilisations.

As three galactic empires fight for control of the human race, the novel charts the gradual moral awakening of its narrator, Ambien II, a ‘dry, dutiful, efficient’ female Sirian administrator. Witnessing the wanton colonisation of land and people, Ambien begins to question her involvement in such insidious experimentation, as her faith in the possibility of genuine human progress grows weaker every day.

Shortlisted
The Booker Prize 1981
Published by
Jonathan Cape
Publication date

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Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing

About the Author

Doris Lessing is widely considered one of the most important writers of the second half of the 20th-century and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007.
More about Doris Lessing

Other nominated books by Doris Lessing

The Good Terrorist
Briefing for a Descent into Hell