The prequel to what will be the publishing event of 2011: the final volume of Jean M. Auel's six-book series, The Land of Painted Caves

The first book in the internationally bestselling Earth's Children series, an epic work of prehistoric fiction beloved by generations of readers.

When an earthquake destroys her family's camp, Ayla is left orphaned and alone in an unfamiliar and dangerous land, her likelihood of survival slim.

But then she is found by a woman of the Clan, a people very different from her own kind. To them Ayla looks peculiar and ugly, her blonde hair and blue eyes marking her out as one of the Others, who have recently invaded their ancient homeland. Yet Iza, the Clan's medicine woman cannot leave the child to die.

As Ayla learns the ways of the Clan and Iza's ways of healing, Iza grows to love her, and the rest of the Clan to accept her. Everyone, that is, except Brun, the brutal and proud youth who is destined to become their next leader. Where others see similarity, he can only see difference, and as his hatred for the strange girl of the Others deepens, he grows determined to get his revenge . . .

Set 25,000 years in the past, yet utterly relatable today, The Clan of the Cave Bear is an epic tale of love, identity and the struggle to survive.

'Beautiful, exciting, imaginative' New York Times

'A major bestseller . . . A remarkable work of imagination' Daily Express

"Beautiful, exciting, imaginative" - New York Times

"A major bestseller . . . a remarkable work of imagination" - Daily Express

"It's nice to rediscover an old classic that, upon reading 30 years after it was first published, still has appeal . . . Auel's simple but engaging storytelling skill is still a joy." - Sunday Mail,Brisbane