The Last Neanderthal - Selected Press, Reviews, and Interviews

The Last Neanderthal is a national bestseller (The Globe and Mail and Maclean's Magazine lists)

Neanderthals: They’re Just Like Us — a profile by Alexandra Alter in The New York Times

Reviews:

"In The Last Neanderthal, Cameron pulls out all the literary stops in giving Neanderthals as much free rein, agency, and authenticity as possible…. This could easily be the best book that shakes up the classic Neanderthal tropes in science fiction and fantasy."— Los Angeles Review of Books

"Girl is a familiar hero, faced with difficult, life-altering choices about loyalty, longing and complex family ties. The fact that she is from another species — and that Cameron renders her with such exquisite compassion — speaks to the author’s deep empathy, consummate skill as an artist and deep-hearted vision. The Last Neanderthal is a novel to cherish."— The Toronto Star

— The Week magazine names The Last Neanderthal novel of the week

"Creative, imaginative and smart...It’s perhaps a strange thing to say about a novel that’s fundamentally about extinction, but The Last Neanderthal is a pleasure to read."— Jezebel, selected as a May Read

"Readers have been captivated by stories of prehistoric humans for eons — well, at least since Jean Auel's phenomenal 1980 best seller The Clan of the Cave Bear. Claire Cameron’s arresting new novel The Last Neanderthal investigates the same time period with significantly more literary skill."— USA Today

“The Last Neanderthal is emotionally engaging…. This immersive story unites two women across time [and] infuses the interrelated stories with warmth, enhanced by vivid details about Neanderthal experiences.”— Shelf Awareness

“Impressively executed…The contrasting and similar reactions to motherhood are emblematic of the book’s greatest strength—its ability to collapse time and space to draw together seemingly dissimilar species: ancestors and successors, writer and reader.”— Starred review from Publishers Weekly

“In The Last Neanderthal, Claire Cameron expertly intertwines Girl’s and Rose’s stories. Though they are separated by 40,000 years and exist in almost wholly separate worlds, the women are bonded. They face their bodies’ sexual maturation and capability to create life. They’re challenged by the expectations and limitations of being a woman in their respective times. In turn, Cameron challenges the reader to consider his or her own existence. This is an engaging tale that celebrates the search for life’s meaning and its quotidian nature.”— BookPage

“THE LAST NEANDERTHAL offers current science but places it in the context of emotional lives, particularly the intensity of pregnancy and childbirth --- and in so doing, Cameron urges readers to reflect on just what being “human” really means.”—Bookreporter.com