Circles of Stone [Mass Market Paperback]

Joan Dahr Lambert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1998

Evoking the narrative sweep of The Clan of the Cave Bear and the spiritual resonance of The Celestine Prophecy, Joan Dahr Lambert creates an extraordinary novel of prehistoric life...

In this compelling adventure, the stories of three wise women -- each called Zena, yet born thousands of generations apart -- unfold in a compassionate and moving saga that celebrates the remarkable growth of the human spirit.

Ranging from the African savanna more than one million years ago to the fertile shores of the Red Sea to the magnificent limestone caves of the Pyrenees mountains -- where the first artists painted the firelit wonders of their existence -- scene after breathtaking scene draws us into their lives as they negotiate a world they do not understand. In this world, an ostrich eggshell becomes a wondrous device for carrying water and the earth's upheavals reveal a lush, lifesaving oasis to a starving tribe.

With striking detail, Circles of Stone reinvents the incredible lives of our distant ancestors. As the human heart and soul emerge in a volatile dance of experience, language, and meaning, Circles of Stone becomes an unforgettable, supremely entertaining read.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Ever since Clan of the Cave Bear, readers (and publishers) have been awaiting another fetching prehistorical tale aimed at women. Maybe Lambert's saga about a series of healer-women named Zena is it. The Zenas carry a goddess tradition from an African homeland into southern France and beyond. One million years ago, the first Zena loses her mother in a flash flood, then finds and rears a child orphaned by a lion attack; later, adopted into the orphan's clan, she becomes its leader, and during her life, the first sacred stone circle, representing the power of birth, is built. The second Zena arrives some 250,000 years ago, when genetic changes make birth difficult and the connection with a powerful birthing goddess more vital. The third Zena lives in the Pyrenees as Paleolithic cave art is born; she endures and survives the arrival of patriarchal raiders from the north. Energetic and entertaining, Lambert's epic may prove irresistible to those yearning for something indisputably Clannish. Patricia Monaghan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Rachael Perry Flint (MI) Journal Riveting. -- Review

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Pocket; Reprint edition (December 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671552864
• ISBN-13: 978-0671552862
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,272,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joan Dahr Lambert is an academic who accidentally became a novelist when she set out to write her first book. Intended as a non-fiction account of female contributions to human evolution (about which she knows a great deal), it mysteriously transformed itself into a novel as words and scenes appeared in her mind. That was CIRCLES OF STONE (Simon& Schuster 1997), and she has never looked back. Since then she has written two other books in the Mother People Series: CIRCLES IN THE SKY, which takes up the story at the same point that CIRCLES OF STONE ends, has just been published on kindle. The third book, ICE BURIAL, the story of the 5,000 year old Iceman discovered as glaciers melted in Italy, will soon follow.

On a lighter note, Lambert also writes British-style mysteries. Books One and Two in the series, WALKING INTO MURDER and WADING INTO MURDER (formerly known as Babes in the Baths), introduce Professor Laura Morland, an irrepressible sleuth with a love of adventure, an impetuous nature, and a tendency to be in the wrong place at the right time - all traits that land her in unusual and often dangerous situations as she pursues her love of walking in England and other parts of Europe. It is no accident that Laura goes on walking trips; so does her author. Nor is it accidental that Laura is a professor of Gender Studies. Lambert has studied gender issues for more than thirty years.

Book Three in the series, SKIING INTO MURDER, which will appear on kindle later this year, continues Laura's adventures, this time on skis (a skill she also enjoys but at which she feels singularly inept) in the famous towns of Zermatt and Murren in Switzerland. Book Four, as yet unnamed, will return to England, this time in Cornwall; Book Five will take place in Norway.

Speaking as myself, writing these mysteries has been one of the most joyous occupations I could ever have imagined. It is FUN! Hard work, harder than a prehistoric novel because mysteries have to be so tightly plotted and one has to keep track of what is in every person's head at any given moment - no mean feat, I discovered. Mysteries also provide a way to talk about some of my passions - like female sex slavery and forced child prostitution - while maintaining a light-hearted tone. That's a challenge, and I like it. I also hope that by addressing these problems in an entertaining way, I can make more people aware of their existence and the need to address them.

Thanks for listening to me! Joan Dahr Lambert

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars All in all, I'd rather wait for the next Jean M. Auel book to come out, January 9, 2008

By 

Martha Colhoun "cryptocat >^..^<" (El Paso Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Circles of Stone (Mass Market Paperback)

Like many Jean M. Auel fans, I am anxiously waiting for her next book to be published. When Amazon recommended this book to me, it seemed really exciting to read about our ancient primate relatives, even if they were all named Zena (to which my mind always supplied "Warrior Princess"). There is a character in the book named Tron, as well, and it's difficult to read that name having grown up in the 70's, without cracking a smile.
But the book doesn't live up to the innovative idea the author had, because the writing style is so plain. It's extremely simplistic in it's language, which I could make a case for since it's about simpler times. Or is it? Life then wasn't simple, it was complex and difficult.
My first thought as I began reading this was, perhaps I misunderstood and this book was written for adolescents. The subject matter, though is frequently and frankly sexual in nature, not something for a child to read. The author's bio says she is studying the evolution of human sexuality, and the story bears that out, and eventually becomes rather preachy.
I could have enjoyed the book, though if the writing had been good. I can't imagine why someone would publish this, particularly in hardcover. The characters in the book were alternately so stupid that they couldn't conceive of violence and rape, then so brilliant they would see the changes of a baby's soft skull as a new phase in evolution, something only a modern physician might surmise, if in fact that kind of change were to take place literally overnight.
My last remark is simply a small annoyance to me- the sentences all had the same cadence, similar amounts of syllables in each one. I started counting them about halfway through the book, when it was apparent to me the book wasn't going to entertain me, so I would have to amuse myself. Two thirds of the way through this book I began to mentally write this review.
So, all in all, I'll wait for the next Jean M. Auel book to come out.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent work of feminist prehistoric fiction, February 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Circles of Stone (Mass Market Paperback)

I finished this book several days ago, and it is still with me. How ironic to be sitting in an easy chair in my climate-controlled house, in my safe little neighborhood, drinking tea and eating a cookie while reading about Zena I desperately digging into a riverbed in search of water, Zena II watching everyone she loves die in a stampede, and Zena III risking her life with a herd of bison to keep from freezing to death. The story is fascinating; the characters seem incredibly real; and the spirituality is a comfort to those of us who feel connected to the universal force we call "mother". The author becomes a bit preachy toward the end of the book, but by then we've been led on such an incredible journey that we are inclined to forgive. This is a beautiful book on so many levels, not the least of which is that it made me want to learn more about anthropology so I could feel even closer to the characters. Highly recommended!

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book to stave off that "Auel" jones..., February 24, 2001

By 

Crystal Di'anno (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Circles of Stone (Mass Market Paperback)

With "Circles of Stone," Joan Dahr Lambert follows in Jean Auel's very large footsteps. With the caveat that no work of prehistoric fiction can, in my mind, measure up to Ms. Auel's book, "Circles of Stone" still proves an enjoyable read for the most part.

Lambert starts off her saga of three different women, all named "Zena," way, way back before Ms. Auel's Aurignacian/Gravettian heroine Ayla. The first Zena is a "Homo habilis", the second is "Homo erectus" in transition to Homo sapiens, and Zena III is a Cro-Magnon of the Aurignacian (ca. 30,000 BCE) era. All three Zena's are the strong, competent, independent type of woman in the Ayla/Chagak/Kwani mold most readers of prehistoric fiction enjoy reading about. While Zenas I and II are interesting, original characters (perhaps because very few if any authors have attempted to set stories this far back in human history), Zena III approaches being a cheap Ayla knock-off - she rides on the back of a bison, for instance, and is a revered healer and "wise woman".

There was one thing about the story that really jarred me, and that was the part about the "patriarchal invaders from the north" in the saga of Zena III. While Marija Gimbutas, and others, provide ample evidence these invaders did, in fact, exist, and did overrun numerous peaceful, Goddess-worshipping settlements, these events did not take place until ca. 5000 - 4000 BCE - NOT 30,000 BCE! There were many "northern tribes," at Dolni Vestonice, Kostienki, Sungir, Mal'ta (Siberia) and others, but they all worshipped Goddesses too! The same "fat lady figurines" (Venuses) have been found from the Pyrenees to Siberia, and they likely represented a female creative principle or Goddess. So that part of the plot fell completely flat in my eyes, though it did make for exciting reading. It also gave Lambert a good opening for preaching about the Goddess - which I don't mind since I am a radical feminist pagan myself.

All in all, I enjoyed the first two sections of the book more than the last. Maybe I'm just spoilt by Jean Auel and impatient for that fifth book to come out. Still, "Circles of Stone" is an enjoyable read, the first two sections cast an interesting and revealing light upon a little-known period of prehistory. It just might help while away the time until Ms. Auel finally comes out with that long awaited fifth book.