The Shelters of Stone opens as Ayla and Jondalar, along with their
animal friends, Wolf, Whinney, and Racer, complete their epic journey
across Europe and are greeted by Jondalar's people: the Zelandonii. The
people of the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii fascinate Ayla. Their
clothes, customs, artifacts, even their homes--formed in great cliffs of
vertical limestone--are a source of wonder to her. And in the woman
Zelandoni, the spiritual leader of the Ninth Cave (and the one who
initiated Jondalar into the Gift of Pleasure), she meets a fellow healer
with whom to share her knowledge and skills.
But as Ayla and Jondalar prepare for the formal mating at the Summer
Meeting, there are difficulties. Not all the Zelandonii are welcoming.
Some fear Ayla's unfamiliar ways and abhor her relationship with those
they call flatheads and she calls Clan. Some even oppose her mating with
Jondalar, and make their displeasure known. Ayla has to call on all her
skills, intelligence, knowledge, and instincts to find her way in this
complicated society, to prepare for the birth of her child, and to
decide whether she will accept new challenges and play a significant
role in the destiny of the Zelandonii.
Jean Auel is at her very best in this superbly textured creation of a
prehistoric society. The Shelters of Stone is a sweeping story of
love and danger, with all the wonderful detail--based on meticulous
research-- that makes her novels unique. It is a triumphant continuation
of the Earth's Children(R) saga that began with The Clan of the Cave
Bear. And it includes an amazing rhythmic poem that describes the
birth of Earth's Children and plays its own role in the narrative of
The Shelters of Stone.
