Tehanu

Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea

In Tehanu, Ursula K. Le Guin returned to Earthsea, writing a story she described as the missing fourth leg of a stool. Tehanu is the story of Tenar and Therru.

Fourth book in the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Not actually "the" last book in the series in the series, despite the title.

In Tehanu, the fourth book in her Earthsea world, Le Guin returns to her fantasy world which was patriarchal and sexist. This time, however, she tells the story through a grown woman's eyes, and sexism which was evident before in all the stories is now felt and noticed by the lead character. The protagonist Tenar explicitly questions her society's strictures and injustices.

... Earthsea's distinctly male bias. Nearly all fantasy fiction, from C.S. Lewis' "Narnia" to J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," featured male protagonists. Le Guin acknowledges, "That's how hero stories worked." She started on a fourth book in the mid-'70s to correct the imbalance, but put it aside. "Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea" finally appeared in 1990 and won the Nebula. In this story Le Guin shows the underside of Earthsea from the point of view of a mature woman and a battered girl.