The Clan of the Cave Bear & The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel

One of these, Jetamio of the Sharamudoi, becomes his mate, while Jondalar attempts to settle down with a woman named Serenio but fails to because of his confusing inability to fall in love. Jondalar, who complements magnetic handsomeness with a quiet, brooding demeanor and supreme skills at pillow play, is often the recipient of female attention along the Journey, though Thonolan, with his candid nature and laughing eyes, is frequently able to charm the most lovely of the women around him. The Journey was Thonolan's idea originally Jondalar decided to accompany him partially to fulfill his dreams of travel, and partially to leave his fiancée, the beautiful-but-shrewish Marona, at the altar. Meanwhile, Jondalar and Thonolan travel east along the Great Mother River, making friends and facing dangers. During the mating season, both of these depart, Baby to find a lioness and Whinney to find a stallion, with whom she conceives a foal. Emboldened by this success, she takes in and treats an injured cave lion cub, whom she names Baby. In her desire for companionship she domesticates the foal of a horse she hunted, naming the filly Whinney and, in time, discovering how to ride her. It also follows the parallel travels of a new character, Cro-Magnon Jondalar of the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, accompanying his half-brother Thonolan on a great Journey to walk the entire length of the ' Great Mother River' (Danube).Īyla, alone and ritually ostracized from the only people she has ever known, travels alone for half a year until finding the Valley, and eventually establishes a comfortable but lonely life there, keeping productive for several years to stave off her lack of company. The book follows the journey Ayla makes to find her own people, whom the Clan refer to as ' the Others'. The protagonist, a young woman named Ayla (clearly one of The Others, aka Cro-Magnon) must face life after being exiled from the band of Neanderthals, known as the Clan, who had raised her from early childhood. The book starts off from the events at end of The Clan of the Cave Bear.

The Clan of the Cave Bear & The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel