Ayla

Ayla is a young woman who is abandoned for unknown reasons when she was only five and found, sick and injured, by a group of Neanderthals. These people, known to Ayla as the Clan of the Cave Bear, took her in despite her strange appearance and their fears that she might bring them bad luck. Ayla grows up under the tutelage of their healer and their mystic, learning their language and their customs. Ayla is told she cannot hunt because she is female, but Ayla learns how to use a sling to kill small animals. Ayla also learns about healing. When an earthquake strikes the Clan and kills many of their beloved members, Ayla is blamed. Ayla is declared dead and sent away, forced to leave behind her baby boy, the product of multiple rapes perpetrated by the leader of the clan.

Ayla wanders the land, moving north...