Quest for Fire

I remember reading this book as a child several times and loving it. It had a raw sense of action, as the prehistoric story that tells of a tribe who had its fire extinguished in an enemy raid (a major tragedy in those times) and of three friends who set off on a quest to recover the fire from elsewhere. What follows is like a prehistoric Odyssey, as they encounter a whole range of threats both human, animal and natural - and put their physical characteristics as well as their pre-modern thinking to the ultimate test. Looking back, it's not such a profound book, and is probably best enjoyed by children as I did. In this case, it is a wonderful read about the dawn of what we know as humanity. The sequel Le Felin Geant (the Giant Cat in English) about the next generation would also fall in this category. However, as an adult reader, I think there are more thought-provoking examples of prehistoric fiction (namely Before Adam by Jack London).

When men could hardly speak, they were submitted to the power of Nature. They were as helpless as the rest of animals, in fact they were inferior to some animals, and they have lost their only treasure that protects them from the outside dangers: the fire. In a small tribe, an intelligent, although not very strong youngster decides to go in search of the fire. He and two other men would have to face to long distances, depredators and cannibals. This book will transport you to these distant times. You will desire the book will go on, so to follow these men and women in the first steps of our history as human beings.