In the sixth and final book of the Earth’s Children Series, Auel returns to her roots, offering a read rich in historic detail. Set in prehistoric times, around 35,000 – 25,000 BCE, Auel writes about the daily lives of early man in a story that has spanned six books published over 3 decades. Her novels are steeped with detail that can only come from a life-time of research, making Auel revered by archeologists and anthropologists the world over.
Ayla was first introduced in The Clan of the Cave Bear, published in 1980. An orphan who lost her family in an earthquake, Ayla is found by a Clan of Neanderthals and raised by their medicine woman, Iza. She learns the art of healing from her adopted mother, but is forever branded as an outcast because she was born to the Others. Ayla is Cro-Magnon, or Modern Man, with all the inherent abilities this superior species possesses, namely the ability to speak, to learn new skills, and puzzle out and solve a problem. As the novel closes, she is cast out of the Clan and bidden to find her own peoples.
The follow-up Valley of Horses finds Ayla living a solitary existence, hunting and fending for herself in the harsh land. Quite by accident, she befriends a young horse, then a baby cave lion, who become her friends and helpers, and highlight the mental abilities modern man has over the Neanderthal, which is purportedly why Neanderthal died out and we descended from Cro-Magnon. It is in this novel that Ayla meets Jondalar, the love of her life.
The subsequent novels detail their journey, adventures, perils, and the peoples they meet as Ayla and Jondalar leave her valley and make the return trip to Jondalar’s home among the Zelandonii, a large group of semi-nomadic cave dwellers settled in the region that is now modern France.
In The Land of Painted Caves, Auel brings Ayla’s story to a conclusion. It is summer and time for the Zelandonii peoples Summer Meeting. Ayla is continuing her studies with the zelandonia, the group of healers and spiritual leaders who have recognized her unique gifts with herbs and animals. She is mated to Jondalar and has a young child and must balance home life with her training. Orphaned at the age of five, and raised by a Clan of Neanderthals, Ayla has only ever wanted to find and be accepted by her own peoples. She has finally found acceptance among Jondalar’s family, the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii. But the life of a zelandonia, a healer, is not an easy one and she must make many sacrifices that threaten her family’s happiness.
The relationship between Ayla and Jondalar is a secondary story thread, one that ties the books together. What brings such richness to the novels is Auel’s minute descriptions of early man’s existence – the food they gathered, hunted and ate. How they prepared it. The clothing they wore, their ceremonies and burial methods, and most importantly in this novel, their cave art. Much of this is conjecture, but more is based on archeological research from digs that have taken place in Europe and Africa. The archeological discovery of early man, how and where he lived has greatly enriched Auel’s work, and she is a true historian, punctuating her fiction with fascinating factual data.
In The Land of Painted Caves, Ayla embarkes on a Donier Tour, visiting all of the region’s sacred sites, namely painted caves. Auel visited these existing caves while researching her novels, and the detail provided in the book is a wonderful tribute to this period in history.
Anyone fascinated by early man and our human origins, as I am, will find these books steeped in historic fact and rich in detail. Auel fleshes out the facts to create believable characters and situations you’ll remember long after closing the cover on the final page.
Till next time, happy reading.
L J
| TBR = 8 | WPL = 20 |
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