Jean M. Auel Books

The third novel in the Earth's Children series, Jean M. Auel's internationally bestselling epic of life 25,000 years ago when two kinds of human beings, Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon, shared the earth. Leaving the valley of horses with Jondalar, the handsome man she has nursed back to health and come to love, Ayla embarks on a journey that will lead her to the Mamutoi, the Mammoth Hunters, who are Others like her. As she settles into this new life among a people at first strange and disturbingly different, soon Ayla begins to feel at home, finally leaving her painful memories of the Clan behind and finding female friends. Yet Ayla is also drawn to Ranec, the dark-skinned, magnetic master-carver of ivory. Ayla must choose: remain with Ranec and the Mamutoi, or follow Jondalar into the unknown . . . Set 25,000 years in the past, yet utterly relatable today, The Mammoth Hunters is an epic tale of love, identity and the struggle to survive, rich in detail of language, culture, myth and ritual. Praise for Jean M. Auel 'Beautiful, exciting, imaginative' New York Times 'A major bestseller . . . A remarkable work of imagination' Daily Express

Orphaned Ayla and wandering Jondalar search for a place to call home.

Analyse : Roman de science-fiction (préhistorique).

In the second volume of the Earth’s Children® series, Ayla embarks on a personal journey of discovery, leaving behind the Clan that raised her. Seeking others like herself and the love she longs for, she ventures into uncharted territories filled with danger and loneliness. Driven by her intelligence and curiosity, she navigates a harsh world marked by glacial cold and fierce beasts, where survival is a constant struggle. In a hidden valley, she forms a bond with a herd of steppe horses, mastering survival skills that no Clan member could. However, her life takes a turn when she rescues Jondalar, a young man from the Others, igniting a conflict between her yearning for companionship and her fear of the unfamiliar. As she grapples with her deepening feelings for Jondalar, he introduces her to the concepts of true friendship and love. Through powerful storytelling and a profound understanding of human nature, the narrative immerses readers in a vivid re-creation of the prehistoric world, offering a compelling exploration of the dawn of civilization.

De serie De Aardkinderen vertelt het verhaal van het mysterie van het ontstaan van de mensheid en de harde strijd om in de prehistorie te overleven. Jean Auels boeken hebben al miljoenen lezers meegevoerd naar de boeiende prehistorische wereld van Ayla en haar tijdgenoten. Ayla en haar geliefde Jondalar weten dat zij voor elkaar bestemd zijn en verlangen naar een thuis. Ze nemen een moeilijk besluit om de stam van de Mamutiërs te verlaten en gaan op weg naar Jondalars eigen volk. Samen met Wolf en de paarden Whinney en Renner trekken ze de dwars over het Europese continent van 35.000 jaar geleden. De reis door de prehistorische natuur is schitterend en opwindend, maar vol gevaren. En het is niet alleen de natuur die een bedreiging vormt. Zullen zij ooit Jondalars volk bereiken? Maar Ayla draagt het teken van de Grote Aardmoeder in zich, en haar bestemming gaat veel verder dan zij of Jondalar ooit kan vermoeden...

Ayla and Jondalar have reached home: the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, the old stone age settlement in the region known today as south-west France. Ayla has much to learn from the Zelandonii as well as much to teach them. Jondalar's family are initially wary of the beautiful young woman he has brought back, with her strange accent and her tame wolf and horses. She is delighted when she meets Zelandoni, the spiritual leader of her people, a fellow healer with whom she can share her medicinal skills. After the rigours and dangers that have characterised her extraordinary life, Ayla yearns for peace and tranquillity; to be Jondalar's mate and to have children. But her unique spiritual gifts cannot be ignored, and even as she gives birth to their eagerly-awaited child, she is coming to accept that she has a greater role to play in the destiny of the Zelandonii.

THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES concludes the story of Ayla, her mate Jondalar, and their little daughter, Jonayla, taking readers on a journey of discovery and adventure as Ayla struggles to find a balance between her duties as a new mother and her training to become a Zelandoni - one of the Ninth Cave community's spiritual leaders and healers. Once again, Jean Auel combines her brilliant narrative skills and appealing characters with a remarkable re-creation of the way life was lived thousands of years ago, rendering the terrain, dwelling places, longings, beliefs, creativity and daily lives of Ice Age Europeans as real to the reader as today's news.