Resumo de The Clan Of The Cave Bear

This story is set in the prehistory. Life was hard during the iceage.
A little girl gets separated from her family and gets adopted in the Clan of the Cavebear. They find her when they are looking for a new cave to live in. They take her in as if she is one of them, but soon the girl, Ayla, realises that she looks different. They have heavy frontal bones, are short and they talk through signs.
Ayla is five years old when she is taken in, and she has a lot to learn. Time passes, and the clan gets used to her presence and her being different. The woman who adopted her teaches her the art of healing, and how to take care of their family member Creb the magician. Creb teaches her how to talk in signs, and the manners of the Clan.
One day Ayla overhears the explanation of one of the hunters to a young boy, about how to use the sling. She knows that it is forbidden for women to touch weapons, but still she practises herself in using the sling. She realises that she will never be able to let anyone know she hunts, so she uses her sling only to hunt small beasts of prey. The beasts of prey are a bother to the Clan and their meat isn't eaten.
When the time for the mammoth hunt arrives, Ayla is chosen to come along to skin the mammoth and carry back the meat. While the men are out hunting, the women are attacked by a hyena. The beast gets hold of a little boy and Ayla uses her sling to chase it away. The child is saved but her secret is out. The men are furious, a woman is not allowed to touch weapons on penalty of death. When back at the cave, Creb and the Clan leader call a meeting among the clans men. After that meeting the leaders decide to make this girl that they've accepted into their Clan an exception. They let her hunt.
Ayla is late with getting her first menstrual cycle, but at last she is a woman and not a girl anymore. Broud, son of the leader, has always hated her and decides to rape her regularly. It's his right to use her, so nobody tries to stop him. After a while Ayla gets pregnant and after a long and hard pregnancy she delivers a baby boy named Durc. At first he seems to be deformed and the Clan doesn't want to accept him. Ayla fights for her son by saying that she looks different from the other people in the Clan too, and isn't deformed.
Shortly after his birth it's time for the Clan meeting. Then Ayla realises that her mother has grown too old, and can't come along. She has to stay behind and guard the cave, together with the other elderly people.
When arrived at the meeting, Ayla is confronted again with the fact that she is different. Their Clan is only accepted to the meeting because their leader is the most respected one amongst leaders, and Creb is the best magician amongst the magicians. There are many competitions and at one of the competitions a player gets critically wounded. He only stays alive because of Ayla's skill in healing. A woman visits Ayla and shows her her daughter who looks just as 'deformed' as Durc and the mothers agree that when the children are old enough they will be joined. Ayla is releaved that her son will be accepted and get a wife.
When the meeting is over, the Clan goes home. Aylas mother is very ill. Ayla tries everything to cure her, but she fails and the woman dies. Ayla couldn't be comforted, not even by Creb or her son. Then the leader and magician decide that it is time for them to retire, and they point out their successors. Broud is now leader of the Clan and without the protection of the old magician Ayla is banned from the Clan. When Creb realises that his beloved Ayla is declared dead, he retreats into the cave. At that exact moment a strong earth quake tears the ceiling of the cave in two, and Creb dies immediately. The Clan is very upset by this terrible sign but their new leader carries on and declares Ayla dead.
This is the end of part one of this captivating series about a woman who lives a hard life in a period of time when life is already very hard. It'sand interesting to learn about the different kind of people that lived in that era, and how they lived. The writer uses objects that were found to fill in the story, and the maps you'll find in the book make it a story that you can almost see.
In a personal note I'd like to say that this is a very good series, and I would like to encourage everybody to read it.

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