This book is billed as “a novel of the first dog.” It takes place 30,000 years ago and imagines the domestication of the first wolf by early modern humans in a time and place where food is scarce and weather conditions are icy. This is a tale of survival in a harsh landscape and how one man’s friendship with a wolf increases his chances of survival.

Kim Stanley Robinson has written survival stories about the future in his Mars trilogy. In this story, the author imagines prehistoric survival, and it is rough. This is a coming of age story of a teenage boy, Loon, and his life within his clan. There is an unusual point of view in this novel: it is written from the point of view of “the third wind,” which is described as the burst of energy you have after your first and second wind have left you.

This is a coming of age novel centered around the life of a young girl in prehistoric Siberia about 20,000 years ago. The narrator, Yanan, speaks to the reader from the afterlife where she gets to live as various spirit animals.

Set in 7056 BC on what is now the Alaskan islands, this novel is about the early Native Americans who live on the shore and their life hunting for seals, otter and whales to survive. The protagonist is a young woman who struggles to overcome blow after blow of tragedy and abuse. It is a gripping page turner that leaves the reader hopeful she will overcome her obstacles to survival.