The Inheritors

Hunt, trek, and feast among Neanderthals in this stunning vision of prehistory on the cusp of a new age, from the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, introduced by Ben Okri.

This was a different voice; not the voice of the people. It was the voice of other.

When spring comes, the people leave their winter cave, foraging for honey and shoots, bulbs and grubs, the hot richness of a deer’s brain. They awaken the fire to heat their naked bodies, lay down their thorn bushes, and share pictures in their minds.

But strange things are happening – inexplicable scents, sounds, and violence – and, suddenly, unimaginable creatures are half-glimpsed in the forest; an upright new people of bone-faces and deerskins. What the early people don’t know is that their season is already over …

‘An earthquake in the petrified forests of the English novel.’ Arthur Koestler

‘A tour de force … Genius.’ Daily Telegraph

‘Alarming, eye-opening, desolating, mind-invading and unique.’ New Statesman

‘Powerful and provocative … Each time I revisit The Inheritors I find something new.’ Penelope Lively