This book, in its scope and style, is nothing less than a daring experiment in novel construction, for in writing it, James Hill has worn the hats of an anthropologist, psychiatrist and fantasist. An anthropologist, because he takes us back to the dawn of human time and manifestly draws on his considerable knowledge of our early human history. A psychiatrist (which he is), because he doesn’t just describe the brutish ways of his characters, but also their much more fragile and engaging emotions and motivations. Fantasist, because he invites us to see humans and the lions and the other beasts as animals: different in some ways, but from the same stock. And as to emphasize this, he shows how and why humans need their animal instincts: and more intriguingly, he gives animals thoughts and feelings too. This might be anthropomorphic, but it works.

Fortunately, he is also a consummate storyteller, so that from page one, the reader is carried along on a wave of interest and excitement. Hill might have researched this book thoroughly, but the factual stuff is kept very much in the background, never being more than a distant harmonic to the main melody of the drama.

The leader of one of the families, Tahk, struggles to keep his kinfolk alive and well, but their food is running out, lions roam the plains, and within the cave, cunning minds plan to overthrow his leadership.

As brotherly bonds are forged and broken, hunters are injured and die, and females change their mates, Tahk and, later his son, Dhi, find themselves absorbed in a higher calling: drawn to the awesome heat and light of the sun, their hopes move from the power of the skies to the power of their own minds. Hard times lie around every corner, but these leaders know they must understand their world or die.

In this raw and volatile setting, where lives hang by a thread, Tahk and Dhi come to realise they must use their nascent skills of deduction as well as their courage and strength to ensure that the clan survives.

This is a strong novel filled with convincing characters. But it is more than that. Somehow, the author transports the reader to the actual time and place. It is as if we are really there - in the valley, with the hard rock beneath our feet, dry dust in our throat and the sun beating down on our head. It’s a book that almost literally gets beneath the skin.

It is published by Sapientum Books.