Cleft, The

Description:
Doris Lessing, one of England's finest living novelists, invites us to imagine a mythical society free from sexual intrigue, free from jealousy, free from petty rivalries: a society free from men. An old Roman senator, contemplative at his late stage of life, embarks on what will likely be his last endeavour: the retelling of the story of human creation. He recounts the history of the Clefts, an ancient community of women living in an Edenic, coastal wilderness, confined within the valley of an overshadowing mountain. The Clefts have no need, or knowledge, of men -- childbirth is controlled, like the tides that lap around their feet, through the cycles of the moon, and their children are always female. But with the unheralded birth of a strange, new child -- a boy -- the harmony of their community is suddenly thrown into jeopardy. At first, in their ignorance, the Clefts are awestruck by this seemingly malformed child, but as more and more of these threateningly unfamiliar males appear, now unfavourably nicknamed Squirts, they are rejected, and are exposed on the nearby mountainside; sacrificed to the patrolling eagles overhead, the sentinels of their female haven. Unbeknownst to the Clefts, however, these baby males survive, aided by the very eagles sent to kill them, and thrive on their own on the other side of the mountain. It is not until an unusually curious young Cleft named Maire goes beyond the geographical, and emotional, divide of the mountain that this disquieting fact is uncovered -- a discovery that forces the Clefts to accept and realign themselves to the prospect of a now shared world, and the possible vengeance of the wronged males. In this fascinating and beguiling novel, Lessing confronts head-on the themes that inspired much of her early writing: how men and women, two similar and yet thoroughly distinct creatures, manage to live side by side in the world, and how the specifics of gender affect every aspect of our existence.

Review:
'Lessing skilfully manipulates multiple perspectives!a bold, inventive and challenging book from a writer who continues to enlighten and astonish as she approaches her tenth decade.' Independent 'A work of elegance, wit, humour and mystery. It may even be considered, one day, as one of her finest works!This is a deeply serious novel, but it's also humane, warm and witty!Doris Lessing, in her ninth decade, is writing fiction that is as hypnotic, perceptive and original as any wunderkind a quarter her age' Glasgow Herald 'The author's reach continues to thrill!there's witchery in the Old She yet.' Daily Telegraph 'A narrative with the compelling stamp of Lessing's late tales.' The Times 'Doris Lessing writes movingly of the human desire for change!she conveys a powerful belief in the impermanence of any situation in which human beings find themselves and the paradoxically unchanging nature of human relations.' Observer 'Lessing's engaging tale is told with the simplicity of an aural history committed to memory.' New Statesman 'Her prose is pleasingly incantatory!the novel has a pleasing gravitational pull on a purely poetic level.' Metro 'Lessing writes, as ever, with such calm and assured authority!a fascinating, at times disturbing book; one can't imagine any other writer bringing it off.' The Scotsman 'Lessing has always observed human behaviour with the dispassionate eye of a Martian naturalist!Her prose thrives on a bigness which comes from her imaginative origins on the Veld of her African childhood, and her rangy plots take vast, fast strides over the horizon, collapsing lifetimes like pocket telescopes !'The Cleft' is a return to!the Tempest-like condensation of themes that has always enlarged her work' Times Literary Supplement 'Lessing's considerable talent!her certainties are persuasive.' Sunday Times 'Lessing has a lot of fun in her prehistoric world which, at its best, has an Edenic quality ! The raw excitement of life in an age when fire was a novelty, and notions of time, family, morality were completely alien, is well captured ! Pure entertainment: an amusing series of what-ifs by one of the world's great storytellers' Sunday Telegraph 'Perfectly weighted sentences which never overreach nor undersell themselves.' Observer 'Doris Lessing has a knack for blending sci--fi and satire in a way that has the resonance of myth!'The Cleft' is very entertaining.' Sunday Telegraph 'Remarkable!Lessing's efficient, restrained, near-biblical language is sustained with unflagging brio.' Time Out 'Bold, dramatic story-telling' Scotland on Sunday Praise for Doris Lessing: 'She's up there in the pantheon with Balzac and George Eliot. We're lucky she's still writing.' Lisa Appignanesi, Independent 'She has an extraordinary feeling for the peculiar vulnerabilities of the young and the elderly. And her portraits of human relationships are of quite staggering beauty.' Ruth Scurr, The Times 'Doris Lessing has changed the way we think about the world.' Blake Morrison

Prizes:
Shortlisted for British Book Awards: Reader's Digest Author of the Year Award 2008.

Author Biography:
Doris Lessing is one of the most important writers of the second half of the twentieth century. Her first novel, 'The Grass is Singing' was published in 1950, and since then her international reputation has flourished. Among her other celebrated novels are 'The Golden Notebook', 'The Summer Before the Dark', and 'Memoirs of a Survivor'. Her most recent works include 'Love, Again' and two volumes of her autobiography, 'Under my Skin', and 'Walking in the Shade'.