Jean Auel was born inChicago on February 18, 1936. She moved to Oregon and attended Portland State University, receiving her M.A. from theUniversity of Portland in 1976. It was not until after she had raised five children that she began to write poetry and fiction. In fact, The Clan of the Cave Bear started as a short story exploring Auel's interest in Paleolithic humans. As Auel asserts, "the story lead to research, the research fired my imagination, and the wealth of material made me decide to write a novel." The original manuscript was almost one half-million words long and was rejected by several publishers.

In the mid-1970s, Auel began revising her mammoth manuscript. She rewrote The Clan of the Cave Bear four times. Finally, in 1978, she found a publisher willing to devote the time and resources to publishing the series. The novel was finally published in 1980. Over...