The Cleft
by Doris Lessing
- Used
- Paperback
- first
- Condition
- Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Remainder mark across bottom.
- ISBN 10
- 0007250371
- ISBN 13
- 9780007250370
- Seller
-
Newport, New Hampshire, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
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.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Hedgehog's Whimsey Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- Alibris.0005136
- Title
- The Cleft
- Author
- Doris Lessing
- Format/Binding
- Trade paperback
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Remainder mark across bottom.
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First edition. 1st printing. 1st published in Australia.
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0007250371
- ISBN 13
- 9780007250370
- Publisher
- Fourth Estate
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 2007
- Bookseller catalogs
- Fiction;
Terms of Sale
Hedgehog's Whimsey Books
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About the Seller
Hedgehog's Whimsey Books
About Hedgehog's Whimsey Books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Trade Paperback
- Used to indicate any paperback book that is larger than a mass-market paperback and is often more similar in size to a hardcover...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Remainder Mark
- Usually an ink marking of some sort which indicates that the book was designated a remainder. In most cases, it can be found on...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...