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The Inheritors

Published
Sep 1988
Main Genre
Science Fiction Sci-Fi
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About This Book

Hunt, trek, and feast among Neanderthals in this stunning novel by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies.


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, grubs, and 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 and sounds. Unimaginable beasts are half-glimpsed in the forest; upright creatures of bone-faces and deerskins. What the people don't know is that their day is already over ...

'Extraordinary ... Genius ... Remarkable in the literature of the twentieth century.' Ben Okri

'A stun gun to read ... Truly a masterpiece.' Monique Roffey

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

'An astonishing, underrated novel.' Robert MacFarlane

'Beautiful, powerful ... A visionary dream . Shakespearean.' Ted Hughes

'A master fabulist, and a brilliantly creative interpreter of remote history ... An iconoclast.' John Fowles

'A tour de force ... Genius.' Daily Telegraph

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

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Paperback

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Sep 1963 Mariner ISBN 0156443791
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Dec 1981 Pocket ISBN 0671437496
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Apr 2005 Faber and Faber (UK) ISBN 0571225470
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Aug 2011 Faber and Faber (UK) ISBN 0571273580
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Sep 2015 Faber and Faber (UK) ISBN 0571329098
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eBook

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Mar 2012 Faber and Faber (UK) ISBN 0571267483
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Jun 2012 ISBN B008E47MBY
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Audio

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Oct 2021 Faber & Faber ISBN B0979MRVFF
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