The Last Neanderthal

A Novel

By: Claire Cameron

Narrated by: Lisa Stathoplos

From the author of The Bear, the enthralling story of two women separated by millennia, but linked by an epic journey that will transform them both.

Forty thousand years in the past, the last family of Neanderthals roams the earth. After a crushingly hard winter, their numbers are low, but Girl, the oldest daughter, is just coming of age and her family is determined to travel to the annual meeting place and find her a mate.

But the unforgiving landscape takes its toll, and Girl is left alone to care for Runt, a foundling of unknown origin. As Girl and Runt face the coming winter storms, Girl realizes she has one final chance to save her people, even if it means sacrificing part of herself.

In the modern day, archaeologist Rosamund Gale works well into her pregnancy, racing to excavate newly found Neanderthal artifacts before her baby comes. Linked across the ages by the shared experience of early motherhood, both stories examine the often taboo corners of women's lives.

Haunting, suspenseful, and profoundly moving, The Last Neanderthal asks us to reconsider all we think we know about what it means to be human.

Critic reviews

PRAISE FOR THE LAST NEANDERTHAL:

"Arresting... Gripping... This vivid...novel makes clear how much we carry on from those who existed long before us."
—Emily Gray Tedrowe, USA Today

"Masterfully examines our connections to our evolutionary cousins...a novel to cherish."—Trevor Corkum, Toronto Star

"A powerful, warm and thought-provoking book that artfully blends facts with fiction to put flesh on many abstract scientific debates."—Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

"Claire Cameron reunites us with our past, with the beginning of humanity. In this book I lived next to people who populated the earth a very long time ago and have long since vanished completely. To make you feel for them, and what is more: feel with them is a great achievement. The Last Neanderthal is one of those novels that opens the world to you in a different way. And after you finish reading, this world will never look the same to you again."
—Herman Koch, bestselling author of The Dinner

"The Last Neanderthal is astonishing. With delicacy and tenderness, Claire Cameron imagines the struggles of a Neanderthal family to sustain itself physically and psychologically in the face of extinction. As we follow Girl, her mother and brothers, and a mysterious stray called Runt, we are put in touch with what is most ancient and noble in human nature. At the same time, the parallel contemporary narrative shows us how little, over the eons, the human heart has changed. I'm thrilled by Cameron's adventurous and deeply empathic tale, an example of what fiction at its best can do."
—Pamela Erens, author of Eleven Hours

"Claire Cameron's newest novel, The Last Neanderthal, is fascinating, insightful and poignant; a moving narrative of the last survivors of a harsh and unforgiving environment that is both exotic and achingly familiar. It is a story of our profound connectedness to our ancestors, exploring the ultimate question of what it means to be truly 'human.'"—Kathleen Kent, author of The Heretic's Daughter

"The Last Neanderthal is a book like no other. Claire Cameron effortlessly inhabits the worlds of two very different women-a female Neanderthal desperate to survive and an archeologist who fears losing control of her dig site-and shows us they are not that different after all. A powerful novel that will make you cry. And laugh, too."
—Marcy Dermansky, author of The Red Car

I didn’t want it to end!

Amazingly in-depth character development, for all its speed; I found myself able to empathize with the Archeologist, as well as the Neanderthal, ‘Girl’. I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the construction and maintenance of the shelters, as well as the scientifically accurate description of what is now known as, ‘Rabbit Starvation’. This last is a metabolic disorder caused by lack of fats in a diet of primarily winter Rabbit meat.

the last neanderthal

the story about the Neanderthal was great the story about the Anthropologist was horrible. so basically only half of the book was good but it was good enough that I finished

amazing read!

I was never bored white listening to this book. the Dieu draws you in so deep.

They were people just like us.

Great quick book. Makes me think more about our ancient ancestors. They have the same mindset as modern humans, but they lived in a much different and harsher world.

Unsympathetic protagonist

Several of the reviewers offered harsh takes on the main narrator’s voice. My sense, though, is the narrator is not the problem. The problem is an entirely selfish and whiny protagonist, incredibly annoying. Very unsympathetic. Further, the dialogue of this character is wooden and inorganic. The interactions are often awkward and unfamiliar to normal conversation.

The plot helps gloss over this weakness, which is a good concept. The Neanderthal protagonist is much more approachable, which also helps.