The Clan of the Cave Bear

Earth's Children, Book 1

By: Jean M. Auel

Narrated by: Sandra Burr

Length: 22 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

This novel of awesome beauty and power is a moving saga about people, relationships, and the boundaries of love.

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

Through Jean M. Auel’s magnificent storytelling we are taken back to the dawn of modern humans, and with a girl named Ayla we are swept up in the harsh and beautiful Ice Age world they shared with the ones who called themselves The Clan of the Cave Bear. A natural disaster leaves the young girl wandering alone in an unfamiliar and dangerous land until she is found by a woman of the Clan, people very different from her own kind.

To them, blond, blue-eyed Ayla looks peculiar and ugly - she is one of the Others, those who have moved into their ancient homeland; but Iza cannot leave the girl to die and takes her with them. Iza and Creb, the old Mog-ur, grow to love her, and as Ayla learns the ways of the Clan and Iza’s way of healing, most come to accept her. But the brutal and proud youth who is destined to become their next leader sees her differences as a threat to his authority. He develops a deep and abiding hatred for the strange girl of the Others who lives in their midst, and is determined to get his revenge.

Listen to more in the Earth's Children series.

©1980 by Jean M. Auel. (P)1986 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Imaginative, exciting." (The New York Times Book Review)

"Jean Auel has performed a minor miracle." (San Francisco Chronicle)

It holds up

One of the first sagas I read as a young adult and it still holds up to being my favorite. I'm looking forward to listening to the rest of the series.

Could this be my favorite book? maybe.

Non-stop action and suspense. Main character is a powerful flawless roll model for good, a heroine. Women young and old should read/listen. Learn what real strength is.

love

loved this book
I read it as a young person and was so happy to see it in Audible...now on to Valley of the Horses!

Love this series.

I have read this series many times, but this is the first on audio. Love the story. There is some repetition and much descriptive language, but a very touching story with historical information. The narrator was okay. She seemed to improve as the story continued.

books coming alive

I have the books and have read them all. this is one one of my favorite series. my listening to it read, an added dimension made it really come alive. I felt many of the emotions the characters were feeling and that made the experience more personal in a way I have not enjoyed before. LOVE AUDIBLE!

One of my favourites

I've loved the Earth's children-series since I first read Clan of the Cavebear when I was a teenager.
The story draws you in and I love the possible ways that the ancient people from 30-odd thousand years ago interacted. The culture, the knowledge of medicine, healing and the spirituality could very well have been something like this.
The author has done very good research on tools, weapons, utilities and clothing, everything that is described in the series have been dug up by archaeologists and researched by anthropologists long before she started the books.
How said items were used, might have some imaginations behind them, but why not? Why not big brains with racial memory? Why not spirituality combined with some connection? And why not a little cro magnon girl being brought up by neanderthals.

The narrator is above average, and the recording is an attempted remaster of an old taperecording from 1986, so it's a tad wooly.

I read this in the 80’s

I read this when I was in high school and read the other five books in the series, too. The stories are beautifully written and so detailed that you feel like you are there as a part of the clan. Jean Auel is an amazing storyteller and the narrator was perfect!

To live back in the beginning of time

Compelling story about the beginning of time, caveman life, love, lust, pain and despair. With amazing detail of nature, wildlife, beliefs and superstitions.

This is my all-time favorite story.

I read the story 15 years ago. Just now listening to it on audible for the first time. The performance is great, and the story is incredible. Even though I know what happens, I find myself worrying about the characters and wondering if I forgot something, and maybe I’m wrong about the outcome. I find myself excited to see what happens next, even though I know the outcome.

Excellent

Love the entire Earth's Children's series by Jean Auel! The storyteling made me feel like I was actually in it!