The Clan of the Cave Bear

I finished the Introvert Advantage last night and decided to start this book this morning.  The book is of particular interest to me as my mtDNA indicates that I connect to a woman who lived during the last ice age in middle France among the people who painted on the cave walls.  My mtDNA is the most common among human beings of European/British descent.  (For those who are not DNA enthusisasts, the mtDNA is passed from a mother to ALL of her children regardless of sex.  The children of your brother will NOT have mtDNA that matches your mother's as they will receive the same as their own mother. )  It makes a lot of sense that this would be my mtDNA as my mother's mother's people are from Alsace Lorraine.

Much to my disappointment the men in the book do NOT draw on the walls.  And I am not certain exactly where the Clan lives.  Although the Wikipedia summary says that Ayla travels from the Beran Sea Peninsula.  Here is a link to a map that a man has made showing the area in which the Clan lived:

http://donsmaps.com/earth4.html

I am reading the book via audible.com.

Here is the Publisher's summary:

A remarkable epic of one woman's odyssey - filled with mystery and magic.

Here is the saga of a people who call themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear; how they lived; the animals they hunted; the great totems they revered. But mostly it is the story of Ayla, the girl they found and raised, who was not like them.

To the Clan, her fair looks make her different - ugly. And she has odd ways: she laughs, she cries, she has the ability to speak. But even more, she struggles to be true to herself and, with her advanced intelligence, is curious about the world around her.

Although Ayla is clearly a member of the Others, she is nurtured by her adoptive parents, befriended by members of the Clan, and gradually accepted into the family circle. But there are those who would cast her out for her strange, threatening ways.

So the conflict between the ancient Clan, bound by heredity to its traditions, and the girl in its midst, of a newer breed destined to alter the face of earth, could never be resolved. And it is this same struggle that leads Ayla to venture where no Clan woman has ever dared. Driven by destiny and a will to survive, Ayla breaks the forbidden taboo.