The Cleft

Resumen del libro

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.

Biografía del autor

P Hija de padres ingleses, B Doris Lessing /B nació en Persia (ahora Irán) en 1919, y a la edad de cinco años se trasladó con su familia a Zimbabwe. Desde 1949 y hasta su muerte, residió en Londres. Fue una de las escritoras más influyentes del siglo XX y obtuvo prestigiosos galardones como el Premio Príncipe de Asturias en 2001 y el Premio Nobel de Literatura en 2007.<br> P Autoraprolífica, a menudo polémica y genial narradora, de entre sus libros destacan I El cuaderno dorado /I (1962), I Memorias de una superviviente /I (1974), I La buena terrorista /I (1985), I El quinto hijo /I (1988), I De nuevo, el amor /I (1996), I La grieta /I (2007), I Alfred y Emily /I (2008) y sus recopilaciones de relatos, como I Cuentos europeos /I . Acompañan su obra narrativa varios libros de ensayo y varios volúmenes de talante autobiográfico, entre los que se encuentra I Made in England, Gatos ilustres /I o I Las cárceles que elegimos /I .<br>