The Clan of the Cave Bear is one of the most riveting historical fictional novels I've ever read. From the first word of the first chapter to the last word on the last page, this book grasps and holds the reader's attention. It's a book about surviving when you're different. Surviving in an environment that is hostile and the people are at best, "unfriendly".

Picture a small girl, whose parents are suddenly taken from her. She is lost and tired and thirsty. She wanders the landscape in search of.something safe and familiar. Her own mind protects her from the shock by taking away the memories of just about everything she knows. She is rescued by a woman that defies the rules of her own culture to rescue a strange helpless little girl. Little Ayla is attacked by a lion, dehydrated, starved and lost. She goes through her womanhood, to be brutally raped. The rape results in a child and the powers that be want to deny her that child based on prejudicial opinions, rules and superstitions. This same little girl crosses the forbidden gender boundaries to do a forbidden activity, hunting, in order for her and her child to survive. She loses the only mother she has known and her only champion in a hostile community is a crippled holy man, who is only respected because of his connection with the spirit world. One can almost imagine these same challenges (except for the lion attack) to be ones that our own daughters must over come.

Jane Auel brings her characters alive for the reader. Massive amounts of research went into the writing of this tale. She sets her story 10,000 years in the past, but despite that, the reader can still feel a part of the story. You have the blue eyed blonde girl; the crippled old man; the caring old woman that saves Ayla; the bully and the courageous leader. Couple that with believable characters and a setting alive with descriptive landscapes and you have a well written novel that can draw you in so deeply that you finish it in just one night.

Clan of the Cave Bear is the first book in a series that keeps the reader wanting more over a period of 20 years and counting. You can either take this book for the historical fictional novel that it is or one can apply the parallels to the challenges we all face today. Either way it is an awesome read. A classic tale of good versus evil in which good prevails, I would whole heartedly give this book five out of five stars in a heart beat.

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