The Last Neanderthal

A Novel

De: Claire Cameron

Narrado por: Erin Moon

International best seller

One of the most anticipated books of 2017: The Millions, CBC, Chatelaine, Globe and Mail, Maclean's

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.

©2017 Line Painter Productions, Inc. (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Best Book I've Read For Ages

The story of "Girl", the Neanderthal, was so gripping, that I regretted when the narrative switched to Rose, in the present day. But each story was excellent, and sped along to a dramatic conclusion. Like other readers, I would have liked a longer conclusion, but it was moving, entertaining, well-written, and I'm still thinking about it days later. I'll definitely reread it. I hope Audible will offer Claire Cameron's first novel soon!

Inaccurate and No Real Plot

Rose's half of the story was bland and completely uninteresting, with bad dialog thrown in. She spends it worrying about her career and how Neanderthals are thought of, but the ideas she fights against have been out of favour for decades. Girl's story was inconclusive and not at all satisfying. She goes through an ordeal and then the book just sort of ends.

Rose insists on clearing up old ideas about Neanderthals, yet the author does nothing of the sort. They are depicted as overly primitive and can barely talk, like some sort of much earlier hominid or even australopithecus. Spoiler, Girl does something brutish and heartless at the end, making Neanderthals sound like they didn't even have compassion.

I was so done by the end.