The Clan of the Cave Bear

After an earthquake kills her family, five-year-old Ayla is found by a group of Neanderthals who call themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear. Although her appearance, instincts and rapid learning mark her as one of the Others, the healer Iza adopts her and the shaman Creb becomes her protector. Ayla learns the Clan’s signs, medicines and rituals, but her independence repeatedly brings her into conflict with customs that restrict women and demand obedience.

The novel follows Ayla’s childhood and adolescence within a community biologically and culturally different from her own. Her struggle for acceptance is set against hunting, gathering, healing and spiritual practice during the Ice Age, while tensions with Broud, the future leader, force the Clan to decide whether difference can be tolerated.