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“In the tradition of Jean Auel, this well-researched novel authentically recreates the world of the Clovis people.” —Publishers Weekly These children had never seen a tapir. They had never seen a mammoth. So reflects Willow, clan elder of the Clovis tribe, hunters and gatherers who lived on the grassy plains of the great Southwest more than eleven thousand years ago. Looking back on her life, Willow tells the story of when the land was abundant with bison, camels, mammoths, and lions. When communication with animals, plants, and even stones was possible, even essential, for survival. Inventively linking Willow’s chronicle with that of the woolly mammoth matriarchs, award-winning author Sharman Apt Russell explores the impact of human interaction with the environment, shedding light on the archaeological mystery surrounding the mass extinction at the end of the Pleistocene. Recreating the lives of a prehistoric people while highlighting our deep connection to the past and the world around us, The Last Matriarch is a book for our times. “Books like this one can teach us not only the facts of the Paleolithic past, but also allow us to share the experiences of our ancestors. The Last Matriarch does both and does them beautifully.” —Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Social Life of Dogs and Reindeer Moon “With a fluidly poetic style and vivid characterizations, Russell brings the ancient Southwest alive.” —Booklist

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9781504079341

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Sharman Apt Russell was awarded the 2016 John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature Writing, whose other recipients include Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, and Roger Tory Peterson. Her works include the award-winning young adult historical fantasy Teresa of the New World, set in the dreamscape of the sixteenth-century American Southwest, and Knocking on Heaven’s Door, which takes place in a science fiction Paleoterrific future. Her nonfiction ranges from Diary of a Citizen Scientist to Standing in the Light: My Life as a Pantheist. Sharman is a professor emerita at Western New Mexico University in Silver City, New Mexico, and affiliate faculty at Antioch University in Los Angeles. She lives with her husband in the Gila Valley of southwestern New Mexico.  

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