![]() Auel and found where she talked about her research-very cool.) (After finishing the book, I sought out interviews with Mrs. It felt obvious to me that the author took great pains to research details and present them as accurately as possible. The descriptions of the culture and customs of these people and their ways of life fascinated me. The story never let up, even with the few instances of repetition scattered throughout. With the earthquake event happening in the opening chapter, I was immediately hooked. I LOVE her.Īnd honestly, I can’t remember ever reading anything from this prehistoric time period before so I was not sure what to expect when I began this book. This means that she undergoes many things, changes, and events that we do much later in our lives in this day and age. From start to finish in this installment, Ayla ages only a few years, but during the course of that time, she becomes a woman in the eyes of the Clan. She’s way up there in my new favorite characters list and I’m excited to watch her continue to grow in the subsequent installments in this series. As a child born to the Others (a Cro Magnon group living in another area), Ayla’s differences are always apparent to everyone else, but she grows to be a respected and integral part of the Clan.Īyla’s story isn’t without struggle and difficulty, but it also contains strength and love and a ferocity that I absolutely adore. She is found by a group of Neanderthals and adopted into their Clan. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel is incredible.Īyla is about 5 years old when a massive earthquake leaves her motherless and alone. He develops a deep and abiding hatred for the strange girl of the Others who lives in their midst, and is determined to get his revenge. But the brutal and proud youth who is destined to become their next leader sees her differences as a threat to his authority. Iza and Creb, the old Mog-ur, grow to love her, and as Ayla learns the ways of the Clan and Iza's way of healing, most come to accept her. To them, blond, blue-eyed Ayla looks peculiar and ugly-she is one of the Others, those who have moved into their ancient homeland but Iza cannot leave the girl to die and takes her with them. Auel's magnificent storytelling we are taken back to the dawn of modern humans, and with a girl named Ayla we are swept up in the harsh and beautiful Ice Age world they shared with the ones who called themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear.Ī natural disaster leaves the young girl wandering alone in an unfamiliar and dangerous land until she is found by a woman of the Clan, people very different from her own kind. This novel of awesome beauty and power is a moving saga about people, relationships, and the boundaries of love. "About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.Buy from Amazon| Buy from Barnes & Noble| Buy from Book Depository| Buy on Audible Ayla's personal evolution is a compelling and relevant tale. #Ayla clan of the cave bear series#Mostly, though, this first in the series of four is a wonderful story of survival. And as Ayla begins to grow and mature, her natural tendencies emerge, putting her in the middle of a brutal and dangerous power struggle.Īlthough Jean Auel obviously takes certain liberties with the actions and motivations of all our ancestors, her extensive research into the Ice Age does shine through-especially in the detailed knowledge of plants and natural remedies used by the medicine woman and passed down to Ayla. The members of the Neanderthal clan, ruled by traditions and taboos, find themselves challenged by this outsider, who represents the physically modern Cro-Magnons. Although this story takes place roughly 35,000 years ago, its cast of characters could easily slide into any modern tale. She painstakingly nurses her back to health-a decision that will forever alter the physical and emotional structure of the clan. 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. 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. When her parents are killed by an earthquake, 5-year-old Ayla wanders through the forest completely alone. Jean Auel's imaginative reconstruction of pre-historic life, rich in detail of language, culture, myth and ritual, has become a set text in schools and colleges around the world. He will do all he can to destroy her - but Ayla is a survivor. ![]() But she makes an implacable enemy of the group's future leader, Broud. She is cared for by its medicine woman, Iza, and its wise holy man, Creb. Initially, she inspires surprise, then wariness and finally acceptance by the Clan. The story of Ayla begins when, as a five-year-old orphan, she is adopted by the Clan, a group of Neanderthals. ![]()
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