Friday 27 May 2011

The Clan Of The Cave Bear

Tell Me A Story - Review 


The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children, #1)The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When her parents are killed by an earthquake, 5-year-old Ayla wanders through the forest completely alone. Cold, hungry, and badly injured by a cave lion, the little girl is as good as gone until she is discovered by a group who call themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear. This clan, left homeless by the same disaster, have little interest in the helpless girl who comes from the tribe they refer to as the "Others." Only their medicine woman sees in Ayla a fellow human, worthy of care.

This is a story of Neanderthals and the physically modern Cro-Magnons.

I read it quite a while ago, yet this surprising book persists amongst those on my much loved shelf.

With a few clever brush strokes, Jean M. Auel paints a believable story, with a well-researched backdrop, an absorbing plot, and endearing characters. I can ask for no more in a novel – yet somehow, Clan Of The Cave Bear goes beyond that. Perhaps it strikes some deep ancestral chord. Whatever, I found I couldn’t stop reading it. This probably outshines most other fantasy novels out there.




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