A pretty good SF work. An elderly woman named Ofelia, discontent with her life, stays behind when a colony is evacuated. The story eventually becomes a "first contact" tale, as a previously undiscovered indigenous population is disturbed by a new colony.

There's not anything stunningly new in this for SF readers, but it is a well crafted tale. A lot of time is spent with just Ofelia after the colony is evacuated, with pacing and style that reminded me a lot of some of Le Guin's work. Probably the most imaginative part of this section deals with Ofelia's thoughts, not the alien world or the colony's technology; but there is enough of that too.

In some ways, the aliens themselves don't feel quite strange enough to support the rest of the plot--a lot is made of the gulf between us, on account of them being so fundamentally different, but all their instincts are quite intelligible and the disparity seems more in cultural outlook than in thought. But it still leads to a good story, and the high stakes game that develops near the end feels likes it matters.