The Left Hand of Darkness won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, and after reading it, it is clear why. This is a work of social and political speculative fiction, combining the best of science fiction ideals with the most thorough and subtle of techniques to draw you into experiencing another world.

Genly Ai is the envoy sent to represent the Ekumenical worlds. He has come to Gethen, known as Winter, a world in the midst of an ice-age, to ask them if they would like to join in communication and trade, as equal partners. Each time a new world is found, one envoy is sent. Just one, so as to be unthreatening. If they fail, one more is sent, until the world accepts them.

On Winter, there is no gender, all are latent until they cycle into Kemmer, when they are sexually active. Using this as a base, Le Guin creates a story of two cultures, and two people. We see the world of Gethen through the eyes of Genly Ai, and the culture represented by Genly through the eyes of Estraven.

The differences between the culture we would be familiar with, with two genders and a complex social system that acknowledges and is guided by that, and the culture of Gethen, where there is no duality, is explored with thoroughness and skill. It is as though Le Guin had genuinely lived through the experiences of Genly, and had come to those thoughts we read through a combination time spent within, and pressure from, that culture she has created.