SOURCE: An interview with Jean Auel, in At the Field's End, Maronda Publishers, 1987, pp. 208-19.

In the following interview, Auel discusses the research and development behind her series.

Jean M. Auel is the author of some of the most popular books in the world today. Her titles The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980), The Valley of Horses (1982) and The Mammoth Hunters (1985) have set publishing records and won acclaim from critics for their accurate and imaginative portrayals of the lives of prehistoric peoples. Despite her phenomenal success, Auel did not begin writing with the intention of becoming a best-selling author. She first sat down at the typewriter because she had a story to tell, a story that she felt the world needed to hear.

The story concerned a young woman living in prehistoric times with people who were different from her. Auel wasn't sure who these other people might...