The Clan of the Cave Bear is that rare book - a novel written on a highly original subject by an author who, with her first venture into fiction, shows herself to be at once an out- standing storyteller.

The subject is nothing less than what life was like 35,000 years ago - at a time when the earth was still a place of huge glaciers and moving land masses, and mankind evolving slowly as both Neanderthal and Cromagnon Man.

The novel's heroine is Ayla, a 5-year-old child separated from her family after an earth- quake, who is found and adopted by the Clan, a group of Neanderthals anxiously looking for a new home. Physically and mentally she is of Cromagnon stock, and thus much more advanced than they are; and her differences and quick mind create a mixture of fear, suspicion and admiration within the Clan. Ayla is cared for by the Clan's medicine woman, Iza, a direct descendant of a line of medicine women believed to have special gifts and held in high esteem within the Clan; and the holyman, Creb, a deformed but gentle and kind old man whose wisdom and magical powers make him one of the two most im- portant, and most respected, Clan members.

Brun is the Clan's leader, a quiet and thought- ful man who is forced by tradition and by his people to inflict a dreadful punishment on Ayla when he discovers she can use a sling - for women are forbidden to touch weapons. Broud, his son, the future leader, bitterly resents Ayla's presence amongst his people and does all he can to destroy her. But Ayla is a survivor, intent not only on saving her life but of showing that her independence and ambitions should be given full rein.

The result is a novel of extraordinary power, one which creates a whole people, a whole culture and myth010U, within the confines of a tale which grips from the first page to the last.