Circles of Stone

Mother People #1

by Joan Dahr Lambert

The story of three wise women, each named Zena but born eons apart, ranges from the African savanna of more than one million years ago to the shores of the Red Sea to the limestone caves of the Pyrenees mountains

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Prehistoric, Prehistory, Historical, Adult

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

I grew up outside, so it is no accident that most of my books take place outside. walking and climbing have always been my passions. I am still doing them at 80.

My first novel, Circles of Stone, the fist book in the Mother People Series, was published when I was 65, and I have been writing novels ever since. So never, ever believe you are too old to do anything.

I am about to embark on the fourth Mother People novel after finishing four mysteries in the Laura Morland Mystery Series. They were fun to write, excellent exercise for the brain and a relief after the serious issues I tackled in Circles of Stone and the others, but my heart always remained with Zena and I need to write about her again. I would love suggestions from any of you who have read my Mother People series about what you would like to hear.

I think this bio is becoming a blog, so I will continue there.
Thanks, Joan Dahr Lambert

Reviews

[Iset · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve been struggling about how best to review this book, because it has genuine qualities to recommend it, and yet in some ways it’s very problematic.

The book is divided into three parts, each telling the story of a different stone age tribe, separated by thousands of years. It takes us from earlier forms of the genus, around a million years ago, through to the evolution of sapiens and our spread across the globe. The first part of the book, when we’re with the pre-sapiens group, was for me the most enjoyable section. It’s rare to find fiction in that era, and even harder to write, as you’re dealing with characters with a limited degree of understanding compared to our own. As you can imagine, it’s difficult to create a good story out of that, and though it’s not earth-shattering literature, mainly because the characters are inherently going to be weaker, the author does a solid job of holding interest by weaving a tense survival thriller.

It’s in the second and third sections that the book becomes problematic. I’ve been searching for good palaeolithic fiction since reading Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children series – now there was a series that started out well, had a lot of promise, and disappointingly went downhill. The missed opportunities there gave me the itch for palaeolithic fiction that would fulfil its promise. Well, Circles of Stone has one thing in common with Earth’s Children. The central preoccupation revolves around the secret that men contribute to the making of babies, knowledge of which will thus cause the downfall of humanity, war, oppression, poverty, environmental pollution, socks that inexplicably go missing in the washing machine… you get the idea.

I get the impression that the first four Earth’s Children novels, released in the 80s, and Circles of Stone, released in the mid-90s, were part of some kind of wave of New Age feminism that envisioned the stone age as a utopia of Mother Earth worship until it was ruined by the possessiveness and aggression of men. This book specifically states – several times so you don’t miss or misinterpret it – that men’s aggressiveness comes from a fluid inside them that they must release into women otherwise they get violent. As other reviewers have noted, all the antagonists in the book are men, whilst women are depicted as never experiencing such unreasonably violent tendencies, which is why they are the leaders and wise ones of the tribes.

This is insulting and just plain wrong, and I say that as a female, a feminist, and an archaeologist. Neurologically the evidence for differences between male and female is flimsy, and the overwhelming weight of evidence highlights our equivalence (I recommend Delusions of Gender by scientist Cordelia Fine for those wanting to know more). As a female I can report experiencing competitiveness, anger, and lust on a regular basis, as an integral part of my humanity, and I find the suggestion from some quarters that I ought to be without them to be utterly laughable. Certainly archaeologically the notion that goddess worshipping cultures were conquered by male-dominant invaders has been long since overturned. Domestication of food sources, driven by climate change in the mesolithic era was a far more important trigger for sedentism and civilisation. Scarcity of food prompted people to find ways to obtain more; domestication of food prompted people to settle more permanently and caused a population explosion, which in turn necessitated specialisation of skills. Specialisation freed up some people to do things other than obtain food, and some skills were valued above others, resulting in the stratification of society and an imbalance of wealth; creating a need for a system of inheritance. And it’s worth noting that this hasn’t always resulted in patriarchies; there have been other social systems throughout history. Apart from being incorrect, the book’s notions deny the intelligence and responsibility of men, and the roundedness of women as complete humans.

The whole painting civilisation as evil is too on the nose and frankly I consider it to be a tired and simplistic trope. Again, I say that as someone who knows the scientific evidence and is concerned by anthropocentric environment change. Sure, civilisation has brought humanity woes, but the situation is more complex than that. Civilisation is neither evil nor good, and, to name just one pro, this social structure has driven our accelerated technological development to date, fuelling our understanding of the universe.

So I will be declining to read the subsequent books in this series.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book in the for sale room of my library. I thought it looked interesting and for less than a dollar I figured it couldn't be too bad. What I didn't know is that this book would change my life. From the first page to the last I became a different person. Even though it is fiction, so much of it resounded so deep with in me that I know I had found what I had been looking for all my life.

[Jessica Wicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the tales of prehistoric humans of a time when clans were run by women rather than men. In this first book in a trilogy, the author tells of some of our earliest ancestors in Africa, as she calls them, the Mother People. It's all based on pretty good anthropology and is well grounded in factual science. In this first book we see the people migrate to and beyond the Big Rift. Even in the first book, we see the early beginnings of religion and patriarchy. Awesome series! Reading these books was a pure delight!

[Debby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another life changer. All about people who lived a million years ago, then I think it was 50,000 then 10,000 year ago. In Lambert's view, the old civilizations were maternal, led by consensus with the wise women in the lead. It gives a peaceful view of old societies who can't imagine why anyone would hurt another person. Trouble started when the secret got out that men have something to do with birth. Really fascinating and heart-warming. One of my all time favorites.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite historical/pagan/feminist fiction novels!

[Roy Cantrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked the way the story was influenced and shaped by modern archaeological findings. If you believe the modern version of the rise of man, then this gives a good representation of what it may have been like to live in those times.

[Bogormen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone said it was a cross between Clan of the Cave Bear and The Red Tent. I liked both but not this one. Found myself skimming the parts with to much "Goddess babble" by the end to get it over with.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and researched.

Well written, extensively researched, and wonderfully descriptive. Any lover of history, archaeology, pre history, sociology, anthropology, and religious mythology will be well satisfied

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this so long ago, but I remember really liking it. It was along the lines of "Clan of the Cave Bear" meets "The Red Tent".

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I found it a deeply powerful book of the feminine and the Goddess within.

[Lynda]

Loved it. Will be adding her other books to my 'to read' list.

[Mattie Castro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book.

It is written on a topic that is very interesting to me. I will add this author to my collections and obtain book two asap.

[Loraine Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was an interesting take on pre-man. At time the story seemed to ramble on and was hard for me to stay interested in. Not sure if I will read book two.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second and third parts are best but all in all an interesting read particularly when you read the author's notes afterwards.

[Gareth Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m struggling with this to be honest. It just contains tropes that are well worn. Mother Earth religion , men violent and are little more than a tolerance as they give women sexual pleasure. The author, oops, I mean character goes on to explain how utterly pointless men are, but she tells us how watching over animals she can see that they are useful for protection against other men. And wouldn’t it be just better if we didn’t have men?

A sub plot line about domesticating an animal that was abandoned and it becoming part of the community, it then going off to meet others. I haven’t reached the inevitable part when it comes back pregnant.

I can forgive the artistic license of shortening 60,ooo years of evolution to four generations. But it does jar a little that the Mary Sue character does the first caesarean birth, and its only through that that a few times that homo sapiens could evolve wider hips and earlier births.

There’s casual misandrism right through the book.

I mean look, I like the prehistoric fiction. Loved the clan of the cave bear, reindeer moon, shamen. I want this to be better, but it isn’t.

[Suzanne Schumacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was different than most of the prehistory fictions I have been reading. I really like this author. She is easy to follow, and the detail of her imaging is fantastic. It follows the wise women, in one family, for generations. It seems to portray a truer image of what life must have been like, back then.
You learn how they may have discovered many of the things, including fire, that people relied on, to survive. You follow their travels to find food and water. And you see how they "discovered" their Gods, and why they worshiped them. I intend to follow this author.

[Karlijn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Circles of Stone for the first time when I was about 12 years old. My mum used to pack a whole lot of books for the road and this was one of them. I've read it about 3 times since, it unfortunately got lost. I still hope to read the English version sometime. Anyway, something about this story was just so fascinating, I cannot put into words how much I love it. I'm a big fan of the prehistoric setting. I'd recommend this book to everyone.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this book in the coolest used bookstore in Ann Arbor and loved it! Kind of like Jean Auel's "Clan of the Cave Bear" series in that it goes back to early, early, early days. I loved the way she brought the people to life and their love for "Mother Earth." Good story line with love and family, interesting views on worship and caring for the earth....good read!

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible story of the possibility of what it was like for the first relatives of man may have been like and how they have may have expierenced their environment. I will see how the story continues in the next book. If you are interested in the findings of prehistoric man and his ancestors you might enjoy just relaxing and traveling back to how it could have been.

[Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it

You will understand the need to use the name Zena as the book progress, there is no need to tell you to keep reading and that it will get better, it is amazing from the very start!

[Monica Fuchs · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is hard to describe this book because what makes it special is the way the story is brought.
Hundreds of thousands of years separate between us and the people, mainly women, in this book, but still, their ways are comprehensible for us. And more so: they are inspiring.

[Leon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started off like it was going to be very interesting. It got too repetitive and seemed to plagiarize Jean Auel’s Earth Children series. 2 stars I doubt if I’ll read the other two books in this series.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simplistic!

Too much so. I don’t believe that maternal societies have all been loving and peaceful. Women have always been aware they are vulnerable to those larger & stronger than themselves. Therefore, I believe strict rules kept men from running amok. Castration of a man’s jewels would have been a real thing. Likely that and/or death the only real deterrent of rape and murder. At least from those males not directly descended of the ruling females.

Also, I do not believe Mothers would have been forgiving and interested in changing a violent males mind. Vengeance would’ve been swift and brutal. That being the surest way to curb those who’d consider the crime of harming young females. Bcuz without them, life would end.

I do believe there also would have been males groomed for security. Protection from invasion, both from foreigners & other factions or families. Life was brutal and often short back then, one needed to be prepared, in advance, to protect oneself and one’s clan.

And except for my difference of opinions, the story was well written and mostly kept my attention, though the simplistic tone grated as it felt immature. as if it written by a young mind.

Also the mixture of cold weather with lions, tigers and jaguars, threw me out of the book at one point. As well as the question of wouldn’t all those living have been warned of the rivers rage when the rainy season begin and would avoid riverbeds as danger zones?

And a little critical thinking on my part (hopefully triggering other’s) how society is molded (manipulated) by media, movies and books. (Aka: propaganda)

It began in the 80’s Hollywood’s push to convince society that alien species after reaching a certain technological advancement, would automatically become nonviolent. That they’d come to understand there wasn’t a need for aggression. That they’d believe they were above violence.

This is one of the scariest (for me) beliefs foisted onto society, if only bcuz it goes against all we know to be true. A pacifist is quickly crushed when faced by those desperate for resources, or intent on taking them. Any species sailing among the stars, would NEED to be aggressive and ever ready to defend their resources, as well as ready to take other’s. Especially if they’d won their planetary war, to leave and take their resources into space.

The meek may inherit the earth, but only after the rest have killed themselves off!

A technologically advanced species, will not be nonviolent. Tho it’s likely, they’d try and save the resources they’d come for, from destruction, if they were able to convince the natives, that they were peaceful.

What’s that 1600 year old Roman motto - “If you want peace, then prepare for war”. (It’s actually older than 1600yrs, as Sun Tzu’s philosophy centers on this in his brief work “The Art of War”. Where he pushes the knowledge, that violence isn’t necessary to win conflict. He and Jane Goodall should together be posthumously elected for the Nobel Peace Prize. Wouldn’t that raise eyebrows! 🙋🏻‍♀️

[Ninaminacat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read, but the politics at the end are a bit heavy-handed

I wondered if this was going to be a clone of "Clan of the Cave Bear" when the book started with a young girl being left to fend for herself following the death of her mother, but I was delighted to find that it had a very different storyline.

Instead of following one individual girl, the plot covers the struggles and successes of three matriarchal communities in three distinct eras, one million, half a million and 50,000 years ago. I loved watching the development of our ancestors' linguistic and technological skills, admired their ability to withstand such a hard hand-to-mouth life, made all the harder by the need to travel long distances to find a new place of shelter when disaster struck - sometimes more than once in a individual's life time - and liked the interpretation offered of stone circles and cave paintings being offerings to the (Earth) Mother. I found the overview of virtually a million years of prehistoric life fascinating and satisfying but felt that the final section conveyed too much of an over-simplified matriarchy good, patriarchy bad message. This has necessitated at least a short break before continuing with the series, in spite of the fact that I had intended to read all the volumes in the trilogy consecutively. However, it has made me want to read up on the Mother Goddess.

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh! I think the author tried to tell too many stories in this book. Rather than having three separate stories in 400 pages and each story having a large cast of characters, she just didn't develop the stories enough. Things jumped around telling so many different points of view that the story was hard to follow. I just didn't buy the whole discovering how to make fire scene - it was so glossed over that I didn't buy it. I also found it weird how she talked about the characters being able to smell each others scents days after another had been present in a location - I've never read this about early man. Is this true or did she just make that up? She sure kept reminding us about it over and over. I'd say skip this book and read Clan of the Cave Bear!

[Simona Garbarini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tre donne a confronto, una appartenente agli homo habilis, una all’homo erectus una infine all’homo sapiens. Il libro ci dà un’interessante idea di come vivevano nella preistoria, di che cos’è una società matriarcale, che cosa sono quelle statuette coi seni grossi che ogni tanto si vedono nei musei. Lettura senz’altro inedita è interessante, a volte un po’ ridondante e noiosa in realtà. Una cinquantina (per essere ottimistici) pagine sul culto della madre avrebbero potuto essere tagliate via senza nessun cambiamento di senso.

[Judith Schimmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Op zich vond ik het wel een mooi boek, maar bepaalde aspecten waren storend. Het boek is bijvoorbeeld echt anti-man. Er waren best leuke mannelijke personages maar over het algemeen werd de man beschreven als dom, gewelddadig en de reden van alle ellende in de wereld tot aan de dag van vandaag. De vrouwen zijn duidelijk verheven boven de mannen alsof ze een meer ontwikkelde soort zijn die de hele dag de daden van die onnozele mannen moeten corrigeren. Dat begon me te vervelen. Ook vond ik het soms een beetje copy paste werk van Auels prehistorische romans.

[Randall Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spirituality and reason have evolved as one not separately

The author does a captivating job of matching what we call myth with reality. Survival in spite of insurmountable circumstances became possible through characters that persevered and developed faith in who they were and the impact they often experienced from power greater than they possessed. Evolution of spirituality intermingled with reasoning is our heritage, and Lambert evidenced that by inspired story telling.

[An · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading imaginings of what life would have been like before patriarchy took hold. This book was beautiful like that, and I look forward to reading its sequels. Towards the end, it got a bit simplistic, though, in making Tron the archetype for all that went wrong and in fast forwarding the development of patriarchal thinking within one lifespan, where it probably evolved in a more subtle, complex way.

4.5 stars.

[Linda Humberstone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book full of ideas about how ancient people viewed their lives and tried to understand the events in nature that influenced them and how they would deal with these occurrences. A bit slow to begin with but got better as the story progressed.