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Simon & Schuster
August 2009
On Sale: July 22, 2009
384 pages
ISBN: 1439181233
EAN: 9781439181232
Paperback
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Thriller
In a brilliant and ambitious thriller that combines elements
of Jean Auel's The Clan of the Cave Bear and Ken Follett's
The Pillars of the Earth into a riveting, multifaceted tale
of love, art, courage, and war, Martin Walker brings to life
the creation of an extraordinary work of prehistoric cave
art and the struggle to possess it in our own time. Walker's richly interwoven novel opens with the arrival of a
mysterious package for a young American woman working in a
London auction house. Brought by a British officer, it
contains a 17,000-year-old fragment of a cave painting left
to him by his father, a former World War II hero. The fragment, significant and stunning in itself, is also
the key to the existence of an un-known cave that may be
more important in the history of art and human creation than
the world-famous one at Lascaux. It triggers a storm of
publicity and commands the attention of the French
authorities all the way up to the President of the Republic,
who seems to know more about the painting's origins than
anyone else... As the young American woman, the British officer, and a
French government art historian explore the ancient province
of Périgord to determine the painting's origins, their
search serves as backdrop for three compelling stories.
There is the tale of the British officer's father who lands
in Nazi-occupied France in 1944 to organize the Resistance,
culminating in a series of battles to prevent the SS Das
Reich Panzer Division from reaching the Normandy beaches in
time to repel the D-Day invasion, which leads to an account
of the subsequent discovery -- and cover-up -- of the lost
cave and its paintings. And there is also the moving story
of the young artist who painted them, the woman he loved,
and the ancient culture that produced the first recognizable
human art but required the sacrifice of its own creators. Filled with vivid, historically accurate details and
imaginative re-creations of prehistoric life, The Caves of
Périgord blends a complex plot and richly diverse characters
into a seamless narrative of romance, tragedy, and heroism
from past to present.
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