The Clan Of The Cave Bear/The Valley Of The Horses: Jean M. Auel

The Clan Of The Cave Bear - Book I of Earth's Children. A natural disaster leaves Ayla, a small girl, wandering alone in an unfamiliar and dangerous land until she is found by a woman of the Clan, people very different from her own kind. To them, blond, blue-eyed Ayla looks peculiar and ugly - she is one of the Others, those who have moved into their ancient homeland; but Iza, the healer, cannot leave the girl to die and takes her with them. Iza and Creb, the old Mog-ur, grow to love her, and as Ayla learns the ways of the Clan and Iza’s way of healing, most come to accept her. But the brutal and proud youth who is destined to become their next leader sees her differences as a threat to his authority. He develops a deep and abiding hatred for the strange girl of the Others who lives in their midst, and is determined to get his revenge. The Valley Of The Horses - Book II of Earth's Children: cast out by the new leader of the ancient Clan that adopted her as a child, Ayla leaves those she loves behind and travels alone through a stark, open land filled with dangerous animals but few people, searching for the Others, tall and fair like herself. The short summer gives her little time to look, and when she finds a sheltered valley with a herd of hardy steppe horses, she decides to stay and prepare for the long glacial winter ahead. Living with the Clan has taught Ayla many skills and she knows she can survive when she traps a horse, which gives her meat and a warm pelt for the winter - as well as an orphaned foal with whom she develops a unique kinship. One winter extends to more; she adopts a wounded lion cub - but she is restless for human companionship.