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The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M Auel (Hodder & Stoughton)
Auel’s first book in The Earth’s Children saga, The Clan of the Cave Bear was published in 1980 and today the books have sold over 45 million copies worldwide.
The story, set in the Ice Age follows a Cro-Magnon girl, Ayla who was separated from her people and raised by Neanderthals or “Clan” as they are known in the book. From here Ayla’s journey continues as she treks across Ice Age Europe to her mate’s people. She suffers many hardships and tragedies but is mostly triumphant.
The reader soon realises that Ayla is pretty special. Not only does she have the vast knowledge of the Clan and their “memories” but she has an enquiring and experimental mind and she makes *cough* quite a lot of discoveries.
Jean M Auel is widely praised for her vast historical research and the minute detail that appear in the books.
Reading The Land of Painted Caves I got lost once again, dreaming of a life of hunting, skinning, herbal medicine, basket weaving, flint knapping etc, etc. She really makes living off of the land sound amazing.
And then of course there’s the sex. Ayla and her dreamboat husband Jondalar have fantastic, romantic and rather descriptive sex pretty often.
This most recent book also follows Ayla’s spiritual journey to become a ‘zelandoni’ or spiritual leader of her people.
Auel does have a tendency to be quite repetitive and she tends to over-explain a bit. Her dialogue isn’t great either. The characters all sound pretty stilted and childish, but hey, I suppose you can’t have everything in an escapist historical fantasy.
The Land of Painted Caves is one of those books that you can look forward to reading if life gets a bit too much.
Keen on reading this book? Click here to either review the book or purchase your own copy.
Are you a fan of Jean Auel's work? Which book is your favourite in the Earth Children's series?
Sign up for women24's book club newsletter and stand a chance to win our top ten books from Kalahari.net
Auel’s first book in The Earth’s Children saga, The Clan of the Cave Bear was published in 1980 and today the books have sold over 45 million copies worldwide.
The story, set in the Ice Age follows a Cro-Magnon girl, Ayla who was separated from her people and raised by Neanderthals or “Clan” as they are known in the book. From here Ayla’s journey continues as she treks across Ice Age Europe to her mate’s people. She suffers many hardships and tragedies but is mostly triumphant.
The reader soon realises that Ayla is pretty special. Not only does she have the vast knowledge of the Clan and their “memories” but she has an enquiring and experimental mind and she makes *cough* quite a lot of discoveries.
Jean M Auel is widely praised for her vast historical research and the minute detail that appear in the books.
Reading The Land of Painted Caves I got lost once again, dreaming of a life of hunting, skinning, herbal medicine, basket weaving, flint knapping etc, etc. She really makes living off of the land sound amazing.
And then of course there’s the sex. Ayla and her dreamboat husband Jondalar have fantastic, romantic and rather descriptive sex pretty often.
This most recent book also follows Ayla’s spiritual journey to become a ‘zelandoni’ or spiritual leader of her people.
Auel does have a tendency to be quite repetitive and she tends to over-explain a bit. Her dialogue isn’t great either. The characters all sound pretty stilted and childish, but hey, I suppose you can’t have everything in an escapist historical fantasy.
The Land of Painted Caves is one of those books that you can look forward to reading if life gets a bit too much.
Keen on reading this book? Click here to either review the book or purchase your own copy.
Are you a fan of Jean Auel's work? Which book is your favourite in the Earth Children's series?
Sign up for women24's book club newsletter and stand a chance to win our top ten books from Kalahari.net
