The Valley of Horses

The second novel in the Earth’s Children series, Jean M. Auel’s internationally bestselling reconstruction of pre-historic life, when two kinds of human beings, Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon, shared the earth.

Forced to leave the Clan and her young son, Ayla sets out alone to travel the frigid steppes until she comes across the valley of horses. Unable to find people like herself, the Cro-Magnons, she settles there and seeks friendship elsewhere. First she adopts a young filly, then a wounded lion cub.

But far to the west, two young Cro-Magnon brothers have begun a journey. One of them is Jondalar, whose destiny is bound inextricably with Ayla’s.

Set 25,000 years in the past, yet utterly relatable today, The Valley of Horses is an epic tale of love, identity and the struggle to survive, rich in detail of language, culture, myth and ritual.

Praise for Jean M. Auel

‘Beautiful, exciting, imaginative’ New York Times

‘A major bestseller . . . A remarkable work of imagination’ Daily Express