When Spring comes back, the people return to their cave. Incredibly, things have changed. A log that bridged a marsh has disappeared. Food, that was once plentiful, has become scarce. And then one by one, the people themselves begin to disappear.

The people are Neanderthal, about to have their first contact with Homo Sapiens who will destroy them. The story is told through Lok, who by his own admission, "has few pictures in his head"; Golding imagines the Neanderthals as both verbally very limited and extremely conservative in their mental abilities. Though it is testament to his skill as a writer that this does not render them unsympathetic to a modern reader, it does mean that it can be hard work to figure out exactly what is going on, particularly when we observe the 'new people' through the eyes of the Neanderthals, and see just how incomprehensible drinking from a wineskin, hunting ceremonies or just arguing can become.

This is probably a book that one will either love or hate. As I read it just after the insipid novels of Jean Auel, I loved it. The thrill of discovering a totally new world (mine of the Neanderthals, as well as theirs of the new people) at the same time as knowing that these beautiful people were doomed, was quite incredibly moving.

Not for those requiring a fast plot and lots of sex, but for anyone who has ever paused to think whilst reading a book, deeply recommended.