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The Wife's Story
first published in The Compass Rose, 1982
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1982
About the author
Ursula K. Le Guin
1,029 books31.6k followersUrsula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
May 12, 2026
#Obrigada Maria
Before reading this tale, I thoroughly advise you to picture the lil red hood devouring the big bad wolf. Trust me, that will function as a reasonable mind opener for what you’re about to read: https://frielingretc.wordpress.com/wp...
Before reading this tale, I thoroughly advise you to picture the lil red hood devouring the big bad wolf. Trust me, that will function as a reasonable mind opener for what you’re about to read: https://frielingretc.wordpress.com/wp...
June 15, 2022
A fun little story, a different spin on an old trope, nice twist that I didn't see coming.
June 10, 2022
I thought this story was just too obvious, until suddenly it wasn't. Well done, Le Guin. I love to see things from another perspective.
A very quick read for those interested:
https://frielingretc.files.wordpress....
A very quick read for those interested:
https://frielingretc.files.wordpress....
May 12, 2026
A Bestiary According to Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin writes beautifully, creating many worlds without fully claiming any of them as real. This is the story of a woman whose husband turns into something terrible. Such things can happen between the sun and the new moon, between our own time and the old days when people lived as hunters. It is a startling tale. Perhaps it never happened. Or perhaps it did — just in a different way.
The vocabulary Le Guin chooses and the atmosphere she builds never quite mislead us about what she’s really describing, and yet the ending still manages to astonish. I finished the story with an involuntary gasp.
Ursula K. Le Guin writes beautifully, creating many worlds without fully claiming any of them as real. This is the story of a woman whose husband turns into something terrible. Such things can happen between the sun and the new moon, between our own time and the old days when people lived as hunters. It is a startling tale. Perhaps it never happened. Or perhaps it did — just in a different way.
The vocabulary Le Guin chooses and the atmosphere she builds never quite mislead us about what she’s really describing, and yet the ending still manages to astonish. I finished the story with an involuntary gasp.
May 31, 2026
I got into this book waiting for the unexpected twist and I sort of figured it out because I was spewing random theories and that's the reason for my lukewarm rating. I would've enjoyed it more if I actually tried to read it without constantly trying to guess what's next.
November 27, 2021
This short story is too much fun. Loved the twist.
June 14, 2022
Quick short story with a great surprise at the end.
Read
May 18, 2026I never imagined that so few pages could contain an entire philosophy.
What Le Guin learned me here, is
simple to say, but hard to live - we never truly know another being. Not completely. Not even the one we love most. The moral, the whole moral - is that identity is not fixed. We all carry different selves inside us - some gentle, some wild, some hidden even from ourselves.
And sometimes, one of those selves rises without warning, breaking all we thought we understood. It is about fear too. But fear is not always the enemy.
Sometimes fear is the body recognizing danger before the mind is willing to admit it. And survival demands that we listen to that fear, even when it breaks
our heart to do so. You can feel love and terror at the same time.
You can lose a person who is still in front of you.
And that kind of loss, is the hardest of all.
But the deepest moral, is that truth is not always gentle, sometimes it comes like a crack in the earth, splitting your life into a before and an after.
And so I close these thoughts with a simple truth - even the smallest story can open a door into a vast inner world, if we dare to look closely enough.
A few pages are enough too, when the writer refuses to look away. Brevity can be sharper than any long discourse.
What Le Guin learned me here, is
simple to say, but hard to live - we never truly know another being. Not completely. Not even the one we love most. The moral, the whole moral - is that identity is not fixed. We all carry different selves inside us - some gentle, some wild, some hidden even from ourselves.
And sometimes, one of those selves rises without warning, breaking all we thought we understood. It is about fear too. But fear is not always the enemy.
Sometimes fear is the body recognizing danger before the mind is willing to admit it. And survival demands that we listen to that fear, even when it breaks
our heart to do so. You can feel love and terror at the same time.
You can lose a person who is still in front of you.
And that kind of loss, is the hardest of all.
But the deepest moral, is that truth is not always gentle, sometimes it comes like a crack in the earth, splitting your life into a before and an after.
And so I close these thoughts with a simple truth - even the smallest story can open a door into a vast inner world, if we dare to look closely enough.
A few pages are enough too, when the writer refuses to look away. Brevity can be sharper than any long discourse.
May 28, 2019
A werewolf story with a difference - told from the perspective of a female wolf who is horrified when her mate undergoes a nocturnal change to become a human. Excellent and original twist on a classic theme.
November 26, 2023
I used to start the school year, every year, teaching this short story. I would read it aloud, and then ask my classes of Juniors to summarize the story in 20 words. It's very hard to do that, summarize in a few words. I would acknowledge the challenge and ask for volunteers. Two or three students would each give it a try. Inevitably, someone else in class would begin to look puzzled. They absolutely had not caught the incredible twist at the end. And then we would explain and realization dawned.
And then we would consider why Ursula said it was a story about betrayal.
And then we would consider why Ursula said it was a story about betrayal.
November 30, 2021
What did I just read. Damn.. 🔥👌
January 12, 2023
THE TWIST AHHH this was awesome
July 24, 2022
Este relato es cortito pero me voló la cabeza! Es más, tuve que leerlo y reerlo porque sentía que algo se me estaba escapando de la historia y recién en la tercera lectura pude entender todo y darme cuenta de tremendo plot twist increíble que pone de cabeza todo el relato!!!
Personalmente, siempre recomiendo los libros y cuentos de Úrsula, pero este en especial todos deberían leerlo como un ejercicio para abrir la mente y darnos cuenta de que no siempre todo es como lo vemos inicialmente!
Personalmente, siempre recomiendo los libros y cuentos de Úrsula, pero este en especial todos deberían leerlo como un ejercicio para abrir la mente y darnos cuenta de que no siempre todo es como lo vemos inicialmente!
April 1, 2022
What the HELL, this was awesome!
January 25, 2023
Read at https://frielingretc.files.wordpress....
Le Guin is a master
Le Guin is a master
October 7, 2023
I didn’t expect the this!
I loved it so much I listened to the audiobook twice!
Such a genius idea to twist the expectations.
I loved it so much I listened to the audiobook twice!
Such a genius idea to twist the expectations.
October 20, 2024
What a twist! Was not expecting it AT ALL.
February 16, 2025
What makes The Wife's Story thrilling is the fact that it's told from the perspective of a wolf. The plot twist is amazing.
August 19, 2021
do i get extra credit for putting this on my goodreads?
February 23, 2023
Was not expecting that twist at the end!
November 15, 2023
What in the world? The twist had me cackling and it reads like such a horror story. I'll admit half of what made this so disarming is going from reading the West section in The Compass Rose which is filled with grief and human sadness to, well, this 😂
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December 9, 2024God og sjov og overraskende, synes jeg - man kan nå meget på syv sider!?
October 12, 2023
ext eng always wilding
April 29, 2021
https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/th...
This short story is about a wife who is concerned about the strange behavior of her husband. The reader learns about the unusual symptoms of the wife's husband through her perspective.
This story is an eighth grade reading level. The story teaches students to not make snap judgements about the identity of someone else without knowing all of the information. This story takes a trope that students are familiar with and turns it on its head, which would keep students interested in the content. This story deals with the paranormal, which is a genre that middle schoolers are often very interested in, because as their lives are changing drastically, it is easier to believe that even larger, more supernatural, changes might also be possible.
An exercise that would work very well with this short story is having students create a probably passage. With this exercise, students are given key words or phrases from the passage before they read it and are asked to sort them into different categories such as exposition, climax, resolution, important imagery, protagonist, antagonist, etc. Afterwards, students discuss their categories and then try to come up with a "probable passage" which allows students to infer what may happen using only the details from the text that were given to them. This exercise works well with this passage because there is a surprising ending that students may not have seen coming. After reading the passage students can look back on their predictions and see how close they were and reflect on the ways writers can subvert our expectations.
This short story is about a wife who is concerned about the strange behavior of her husband. The reader learns about the unusual symptoms of the wife's husband through her perspective.
This story is an eighth grade reading level. The story teaches students to not make snap judgements about the identity of someone else without knowing all of the information. This story takes a trope that students are familiar with and turns it on its head, which would keep students interested in the content. This story deals with the paranormal, which is a genre that middle schoolers are often very interested in, because as their lives are changing drastically, it is easier to believe that even larger, more supernatural, changes might also be possible.
An exercise that would work very well with this short story is having students create a probably passage. With this exercise, students are given key words or phrases from the passage before they read it and are asked to sort them into different categories such as exposition, climax, resolution, important imagery, protagonist, antagonist, etc. Afterwards, students discuss their categories and then try to come up with a "probable passage" which allows students to infer what may happen using only the details from the text that were given to them. This exercise works well with this passage because there is a surprising ending that students may not have seen coming. After reading the passage students can look back on their predictions and see how close they were and reflect on the ways writers can subvert our expectations.
November 6, 2025
ursula k le guin has long been one of my favorite writers so when i learned that she had hammered out a concise little story about werewolves, families, and the horror of never truly quite knowing the ones you love i stopped what i was doing and immediately gave it a read.
it’s fantastic and it’s le guin to the very bone. go in as blind as possible.
it’s fantastic and it’s le guin to the very bone. go in as blind as possible.
October 16, 2023
Всего две страницы, но такой неожиданный сюжетный поворот, что я сижу в шоке уже несколько минут.... это тот самый момент, когда доходишь кульминации и думаешь, что всё понял, а потом доходишь до развязки и понимаешь, что на деле не понял ничего
July 17, 2025
Another short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, this time no sci-fi.
In the beginning she seems to talk about a human couple, about friendship, love and family values. The end reveals that the story is a different one.
In the beginning she seems to talk about a human couple, about friendship, love and family values. The end reveals that the story is a different one.
December 19, 2022
plot twist slay
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 23, 2022
I recently reread this 1982 short story by Ursula K. Le Guin in a book club and we had a blast talking about it... great twist at the end! Interesting POV from the wife. Of course, when I first read it in the 1990s, it was far more original and fascinating. Never forgot it. Book clubs have a way of bringing new layers of interest and it lead me to reading more of her work.
A Wife's Story was originally published in the anthology The Compass Rose (1982). Bummed it's not in my library or an ebook that I can find... but I would like to read it sometime anyway. You can find A Wife's Story all over the net and it can be read in minutes, really. Pretty short.
A Wife's Story was originally published in the anthology The Compass Rose (1982). Bummed it's not in my library or an ebook that I can find... but I would like to read it sometime anyway. You can find A Wife's Story all over the net and it can be read in minutes, really. Pretty short.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews