Book description
Doris Lessing, one of England's finest living novelists, invites us to
imagine a mythical society free from sexual intrigue, free from
jealousy, free from petty rivalries: a society free from men.
An old Roman senator, contemplative at his late stage of life, embarks
on what will likely be his last endeavour: the retelling of the story of
human creation. He recounts the history of the Clefts, an ancient
community of women living in an Edenic, coastal wilderness, confined
within the valley of an overshadowing mountain. The Clefts have no need,
or knowledge, of men - childbirth is controlled, like the tides that lap
around their feet, through the cycles of the moon, and their children
are always female. But with the unheralded birth of a strange, new child
- a boy - the harmony of their community is suddenly thrown into jeopardy.
At first, in their ignorance, the Clefts are awestruck by this
seemingly malformed child, but as more and more of these threateningly
unfamiliar males appear, now unfavourably nicknamed Squirts, they are
rejected, and are exposed on the nearby mountainside; sacrificed to the
patrolling eagles overhead, the sentinels of their female haven.
Unbeknownst to the Clefts, however, these baby males survive, aided by
the very eagles sent to kill them, and thrive on their own on the other
side of the mountain. It is not until an unusually curious young Cleft
named Maire goes beyond the geographical, and emotional, divide of the
mountain that this disquieting fact is uncovered - a discovery that
forces the Clefts to accept and realign themselves to the prospect of a
now shared world, and the possible vengeance of the wronged males.
In this fascinating and beguiling novel, Lessing confronts head-on the
themes that inspired much of her early writing: how men and women, two
similar and yet thoroughly distinct creatures, manage to live side by
side in the world, and how the specifics of gender affect every aspect
of our existence. 'Lessing skilfully manipulates multiple
perspectives…a bold, inventive and challenging book from a writer who
continues to enlighten and astonish as she approaches her tenth decade.' Independent
'A work of elegance, wit, humour and mystery. It may even be
considered, one day, as one of her finest works…This is a deeply serious
novel, but it's also humane, warm and witty…Doris Lessing, in her ninth
decade, is writing fiction that is as hypnotic, perceptive and original
as any wunderkind a quarter her age' Glasgow Herald
'The author's reach continues to thrill…there's witchery in the Old She
yet.' Daily Telegraph
'A narrative with the compelling stamp of Lessing's late tales.' The Times
'Doris Lessing writes movingly of the human desire for change…she
conveys a powerful belief in the impermanence of any situation in which
human beings find themselves and the paradoxically unchanging nature of
human relations.' Observer
'Lessing's engaging tale is told with the simplicity of an aural
history committed to memory.' New Statesman
'Her prose is pleasingly incantatory…the novel has a pleasing
gravitational pull on a purely poetic level.' Metro
'Lessing writes, as ever, with such calm and assured authority…a
fascinating, at times disturbing book; one can't imagine any other
writer bringing it off.' The Scotsman
'Lessing has always observed human behaviour with the dispassionate eye
of a Martian naturalist…Her prose thrives on a bigness which comes from
her imaginative origins on the Veld of her African childhood, and her
rangy plots take vast, fast strides over the horizon, collapsing
lifetimes like pocket telescopes …”The Cleft” is a return to…the
Tempest-like condensation of themes that has always enlarged her work'
Times Literary Supplement Doris Lessing is one of the most important
writers of the second half of the twentieth century. Her first novel,
'The Grass is Singing' was published in 1950, and since then her
international reputation has flourished. Among her other celebrated
novels are 'The Golden Notebook', 'The Summer Before the Dark', and
'Memoirs of a Survivor'. Her most recent works include 'Love, Again' and
two volumes of her autobiography, 'Under my Skin', and 'Walking in the
Shade'.
