Neanderthal in Fiction
Below you will find various books of fiction that have a Neanderthal or Archaeological history type theme. These are just my favourites. More to come. Enjoy your reading ! For non-fiction works and research, check out the extensive bibliography page.
For a complete list of hundreds of books on pre-historical fiction, check out the attached link: Prehistorical Fiction. This is one of the most complete lists of such fiction on the net. Many of the entries come with covers and short descriptions.
Jean M. Auel, author - EarthsChildren Series
Auel, Jean M. The Clan of the Cave Bear
1990. New York, Crown. ISBN 0-553-25042-6
"The Clan of the Cave Bear is a novel of awesome beauty and power. A moving saga about people, relationships and the boundaries of love. Through Jean Auel's magnificent storytelling, we are taken back to the dawn of mankind and swept up in the wonderful world of a very special heroine, Ayla. Her enthralling story is one we all can share. A natural disaster has left young Ayla alone, wandering, fending for herself in an unfamiliar land. One day, she is discovered by the Clan of the Cave Bear, men and women far different from her own people. The tall, blond, blue-eyed Ayla is a mysterious stranger to the clan and at first they mistrust her and cast her out. But as she grows to know them and to learn the ways of the Clan, she is welcomed. And as she leads them in their struggle for survival, the Clan comes to worship Ayla. For in her blood flows the future of humanity." (quoted from COTCB). A movie of this book by the same title was also produced.
See the other four books below in this series of six. One more to come. The fifth Shelters of Stone came out in April 2002 to wide acclaim. For more information and discussions on this fascinating series see the JADE - Jean Auel Discussion Enclave.
Auel, Jean M. The Valley of Horses
1982. New York, Crown. ISBN 0-553-25053-1
"...an unforgettable odyssey into a world of awesome mysteries, into a distant past made vividly real, a novel that carries us back to the exotic, primeval world we experienced in The Clan of the Cave Bear - and to beautiful Ayla, the bold woman who captivates us with her fierce courage and questing heart. Cruelly cast out by the ancient Clan that adopted her as a child, Ayla now travels alone in a land of glacial cold and terrifying beasts. She is searching for the Others, a race as tall, blond, and blue eyed as she. But Ayla finds only a hidden valley, where a herd of hardy steppe horses roams. Here, she is granted a unique kinship with animals, enabling her to learn the secrets of fire and raw survival - but still, her need for human companionship and love remains unfulfilled. Then fate brings her a stranger, handsome Jondalar, and Ayla is torn between fear and hope - and carried to an awakening of desire that would shape the future of mankind." (quoted from VOH)
Auel, Jean M. The Mammoth Hunters
1985. New York, Crown. ISBN 0-553-28094-5
The Mammoth Hunters..."continues the breathtaking epic journey of the woman called Ayla. Now, with her devoted Jondalar, Ayla boldly sets forth into the land of the Mamutoi - the Mammoth Hunters, the Others she has been seeking. Though Ayla must learn their strange customs and language, it is because of her uncanny hunting and healing skills that she is adopted into the Mammoth Hearth. Here ayla finds her first women friends, and painful memories of the Clan she left behind. Here, too, is Ranec, the dark-skinned, magnetic master carver of ivory tusks to whom Ayla is irresistibly drawn - setting Jondalar on fire with jealousy. Throughout the icy winter, Ayla is torn between her two men. But soon will come the great spring mammoth hunt, when Ayla must choose her mate and her destiny - to remain in the Hearth with Ranec, or to follow Jondalar into a far-off place and an unknown future." (quoted from TMH)
Auel, Jean M. The Plains of Passage
1990. New York, Crown. ISBN 0-553-28941-1
"Now, in a brilliant novel as vividly authentic and entertaining as those that came before, Jean M. Auel returns us to the earliest days of humankind...and to the captivating adventures of the courageous heroine called Ayla. With her companion, Jondalar, Ayla sets out on her most dangerous and daring journey - away from the welcoming hearth of the Mammoth Hunters, and into the unknown. Their odyssey spans a beautiful but treacherous continent, the windswept grasslands of Ice Age Europe, casting the bold pair among stranger. Some will become friends, intrigued by Ayla's ways of taming wild horses and wolves. Others will become fierce enemies, threatened by what they cannot understand. But always the orphaned Ayla and the wandering Jondalar will heed the voice and vision that urges them on, deeper into the dark and spectacular heart of an unmapped world. for they are driven to reach that place on earth they can call home. Together, they hold their future in their hands." (quoted from POP)
Auel, Jean M. Shelters of Stone
2002. New York, Crown. ISBN 0-609-61059-7
"The Shelters of Stone opens as Ayla and Jondalr along with their animal friends, Wold, Whinney, and Racer, complete their epic journey across Europe and are greeted by Jondalar's people: the Zelandonii. the people of the ninth Cave of the Zelandonii fascinate Ayla. Their clothes, customs, artifacts, even their homes---formed in great cliffs of vertical limestone---are a source of wonder to her. And in the woman Zelandoni, the spiritual leader of the nInth Cave (and the one who initiated Jondalar into the Gift of Pleasure), she meets a fellow healer with whom to share her knowledge and skills.. ." (quoted from SOS)
Asimov, Isaac. The Ugly Little boy
In I. Asimov, The Best Fiction of Issac Asimov. London, Grafton.
Bessette, Gérard - Les Anthropoïdes
1977. Montreal, Les Editions La Presse
In prehistoric times, the anthropod band of Kalahoume lives on the edge of the sea-of-sand. Guito, a young male is undergoing the final stage of his training to become the "story-teller". In his mind we witness the long and difficult journey of his species up from animality.
Canter, Mark. Ember from the Sun
1996. New York, Delacorte Press. ISBN 0385314574
When a modern forensic scientist discovers a pregnant Neanderthal preserved in the arctive ice, he implants the tiny embryo in a surrogate mother and Ember Ozette, a Neanderthal infant is born. raised amongst the Quanoot Indians in Washington state, Ember's distinctiveness is a source of shame and confusion - until she seeks out and finds remanants of her race who are fleeing genocide.
Christopher, John - Dom and Va
1973. New York, MacMillan. ISBN 0027183201
Darnton, John Neanderthal
1996. London and New York, Random House. ISBN 0679449787
In the Parmir mountains in Tajikistan, a guerilla fighter vanishes and a Harvard paleontologist disappears. Matt Mattison and Susan Arnot are sent to find the quarry their mentor was seeking - the secret of the origins of mankind - H. neanderthalensis apparently didn't vanish 30,000 years ago !
Note this book is not as well researched as Auel's works and contains much misinformation. Ian Tattersall, has written a scathing critique on Neanderthal and Almost Adam warning readers that we should beware of these "fantasy constructs".
Golding, William.
1955. The Inheritors. London, Faber and Faber.
ISBN 9992580534. Or you may have an easier time finding it in the new anthology of three of Golding's best including the Inheritors, published in 1997. ISBN 1567312209
Johanson, D. and K. O'Farrell - Journey from the Dawn
1990. New York, Villard Books. ISBN 0394580842
An account of the life of a small A afarensis band. Well illustrated with many notes and photos of fossils to support their reconstruction of australopithecine lifeways.
Kurtén, Björn - Dance of the Tiger
1980. Dance of the Tiger: A Novel of the Ice Age. New York, Pantheon books. ISBN 0-394-51267-7
Life 35,000 years ago - two peoples, Tiger a Cro-Magnon - rescued by a Neanderthal clan, comes to understand and love these people which he had thought were only barbaric. In a totally ingenious twist we discover what may be the solution to prehistory's most puzzling mystery - the disappearance of the Neanderthal from the face of the earth !
1986. Singletusk. New York, Pantheon Books ISBN 0-394-55352-7
The sequel to Dance of the Tiger: A Novel of the Ice Age.
Popescu, Petru. Almost Adam
1996. London, William Morrow. ISBN 06881 48638.
"While flying over an uninhabited region of African wilderness, paleoanthropologist Ken Lauder and his friend Ngili Nglamena, a Kenyan geologist, observe what they believe is a trail of ancient footprints. While camping overnight Lauder happens upon an even more incredible fine: the skelteon of an ape-human that appears to be several million years old. When Lauder tries to arrange for a more extensive expedition, hefinds himself targeted by the ruthless curator of Nairobi's world famous fossils fault. His life suddenly in jeopardy, on the run from brutal mercenaries, Lauder returns to the fossil site. There he comes face to face with a living, breathing hominid boy (Australopithecus afarensis), who just may be "the missing link". This startling encounter pulls Lauder deep into the mind and culture of our ancient ancestors, and he is filled with awe as they begin to form a special bond that spans the eons.
Talbott, H. trans. The Quest for Fire: a novel of prehistoric times
1967. New York, Pantheon Press.
Most of the trive are dead but worse they have been robbed of their most sacred possession - fire ! So three young warriors must brave a world of untamed savagery during the search for survival itself !
Wells, H.G.
1921. The Grisly Folk. [Reprinted in H.G. Wells, Selected Short Stories], 1958. Harmondsworth, Penguin.
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Revised - 16 Nov 2003
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