The Clan of the Cave Bear
Orphaned when an earthquake destroys her small Cro-Magnon band, five-year-old Ayla is taken in by a clan of Neanderthals who pass her as one of their own even though she looks, thinks, and grows into the world differently from everyone around her. She learns their rigidly traditional ways, their sign language, their reverence for the spirits of Ursus the Cave Bear and the totems that guide each life, but her bright hair, her reasoning mind, and her stubborn curiosity mark her as foreign in ways the clan cannot finally forgive. Jean M. Auel's first Earth's Children novel, built on serious research into late Paleolithic Europe, places a strong, resilient female protagonist at the center of a vanished world and began one of the most popular historical series of the twentieth century.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about The Clan of the Cave Bear
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
First in the Earth's Children series. After an earthquake kills her family, a fair-haired five-year-old Cro-Magnon girl is taken in by a Neanderthal Clan. The medicine woman names her Ayla and tries to teach her the Clan's ways.
Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series has six books: The Clan of the Cave Bear, The Valley of Horses, The Mammoth Hunters, The Plains of Passage, The Shelters of Stone, and The Land of Painted Caves. The series is complete.
Yes. A 1986 film adaptation starring Daryl Hannah was released. The film struggled to translate the novel's prehistoric setting and detailed anthropology to screen and is generally considered a weak adaptation.
The Clan of the Cave Bear was written by Jean M. Auel, published in 1983 by Bantam Books.
The Clan of the Cave Bear is 524 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Clan of the Cave Bear takes most readers 8 to 11 hours to finish.
The Clan of the Cave Bear is a standalone novel by Jean M. Auel, not part of a series.
The Clan of the Cave Bear is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.