The clan of the cave bear_ a novel - Jean M. Auel [0]
The Clan of the Cave Bear
“The author of this tale of prehistory, Jean Auel, has performed a minor miracle in bringing to life the story of a lost girl adopted into a tribe of hunter-gatherers.… It is thoughtful, sensitive, and intelligently made.”
—San Francisco Chronicle Examiner
“These are real people in every sense, mirroring both our virtues and flaws in heightened color.”
—Newsday
“A page-turner … Jean Auel has used a remarkable setting … the conflict between past and future, the clash between the dying race and the new race that wonders and invents things.… Amazingly, Ms. Auel not only makes us see, feel, and smell what life was like then, but actually creates dimensional characters we can understand and sympathize with.… She has a thorough understanding of human nature, a gift for storytelling.”
—Kansas City Star
“Our nomination for the year’s great escape.”
—Playboy
“A double achievement, doubly remarkable. Jean M. Auel gives us a powerful impression of a world alien in its ways of being and, at the same time, conveys that shock of recognition: these people are ourselves, they are what we were.”
—Lloyd Alexander
“A good old-fashioned tale with a spunky Stone Age tomboy named Ayla.”
—New West
THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR
Ayla—Alone in a world of strangers, she is tall, blond, slender, and smarter than the rest. She must use her wit to survive when she breaks the Clan’s most forbidden taboo.
Brun—Chinless, bearded, bow-legged and barrel-chested, he is the leader of the Clan and must decide the fate of the foreign girl.
Iza—Chief medicine woman of the Clan, Iza sees the strange ugly girl and realizes that she is human and must be saved from starvation.
Creb—The Clan’s Mog-ur, or magician, he is the most revered holy man of all the clans. But his position doesn’t stop him from learning what Ayla knows.
Broud—The son of Brun, he is brutal, proud, and resentful of the attention paid to the strange girl. He vows to get revenge on her in the most physically satisfying way he can.
Durc—Born of a violent rape, belonging to neither one nor the other, he is the future of the Clan.
This eBook version of THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR contains bonus content not found in the printed version.
A Sneak Preview from THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES
Read an exciting preview from Jean M. Auel’s The Land of Painted Caves, on sale in hardcover in Spring 2011.
EARTH’S CHILDREN® Series Sampler
Read excerpts from each of the novels in the Earth’s Children® series.
Q&A with Jean M. Auel
In this special Q&A, Jean M. Auel discusses her bestselling Earth’s Children® series.
This edition contains the complete text
of the original hardcover edition.
NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED.
THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR
A Bantam Book / published by arrangement with
Crown Publishers
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Crown edition published September 1980
A Literary Guild Featured Alternate Selection / October 1980
A Main Selection of Preferred Choice Bookplan / January 1981
Bantam edition / August 1981
Bantam reissue / November 1991
Bantam reissue / March 2002
EARTH’S CHILDREN is a trademark of Jean M. Auel
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1980 by Jean M. Auel
Cover art copyright © 1989 by Hiroko
Excerpt from The Land of Painted Caves copyright 2010 by Jean M. Auel.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 80-014581.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information address: Crown Publishers, Inc.,
New York, NY.
eISBN: 978-0-307-76761-5
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book The Land of Painted Caves. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal