Jean M Auel

An injured and orphaned infant carries within her the seed and hope of mankind in this epic of survival and destiny set at the dawn of prehistory.

In this third of the the Earth's children novels, Ayla and Jondalar meet the Manutoi, the mammoth hunters, and when she is drawn to another man Jondalar becomes jealous. It is not until the great mammoth hunt, when Ayla's life is in danger, that a fateful decision is made.

After their epic journey across Europe, Ayla and Jondalar have reached his home, the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, the old stone age settlement in the region known today as southwest France. Jondalar's family greet him warmly, but they are initially wary of the beautiful young woman he has brought back, with her strange accent and her tame wolf and horses.