Skip to content

The Cleft

The Cleft

The Cleft

The Cleft

by Lessing, Doris

  • Used
  • good
  • Paperback
Condition
Good
ISBN 10
0007233442
ISBN 13
9780007233441
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Seattle, Washington, United States
Item Price
$6.29
Or just $5.66 with a
Bibliophiles Club Membership
FREE Shipping to USA Standard delivery: 4 to 8 days
More Shipping Options

Payment Methods Accepted

  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • American Express
  • Discover
  • PayPal

About This Item

HarperPerennial, 2008. Paperback. Good. Disclaimer:A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact. The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include previous owner inscriptions. At ThriftBooks, our motto is: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.

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.

Reviews

(Log in or Create an Account first!)

You’re rating the book as a work, not the seller or the specific copy you purchased!

Details

Bookseller
ThriftBooks US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
G0007233442I3N00
Title
The Cleft
Author
Lessing, Doris
Format/Binding
Paperback
Book Condition
Used - Good
Quantity Available
1
ISBN 10
0007233442
ISBN 13
9780007233441
Publisher
HarperPerennial
Place of Publication
London
Date Published
2008

Terms of Sale

ThriftBooks

30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.

About the Seller

ThriftBooks

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2018
Seattle, Washington

About ThriftBooks

From the largest selection of used titles, we put quality, affordable books into the hands of readers

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Jacket
Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
tracking-