Heavy as the hammerstones with which its heroine makes her flint tools, the 500-page The Clan of the Cave Bear made a serious impact on the culture when it was published in 1980. Jean M. Auel’s Ice Age tale about a young Cro-Magnon girl who grows up in a clan of Neanderthals was a juggernaut of a novel: an instant best-seller, a nominee for an American Book Award, and the foundation for Auel’s six-part Earth’s Children series, which has sold more than 45 million copies worldwide. But mention The Clan of the Cave Bear and the Earth’s Children books to anyone who read it as a kid, and they’ll immediately starting talking to you about the novel’s sex. Continue reading at 'Slate'
[ Slate | 2014-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]