The Bear: A Novel

"The Bear" by Claire Cameron, published by Vintage Digital Editions. Told from the point of view of a six-year-old child, The Bear is the story of Anna and her little brother, Stick - two young children forced to fend for themselves in Algonquin Park after a black bear attacks their parents. A gripping and mesmerizing exploration of the child's psyche, this is a survival story unlike any other, one that asks what it takes to survive in the wilderness and what happens when predation comes from within.''A page-turner... Like Emma Donoghue's Room... The Bear creates suspense out of the gap between what Anna knows and what the reader suspects... The story is laced with humour and moments of joy and triumph as well as fear and sorrow... So gripping that it is hard to put the novel down.'' - Margaret Quamme, Columbus DispatchWhile camping with her family on a remote island, five-year-old Anna awakes in the night to the sound of her mother screaming. A rogue black bear, 300 pounds of fury, is attacking the family's campsite, pouncing on her parents as prey. At her dying mother's faint urging, Anna manages to get her brother into the family's canoe and paddle away. ''A deeply sympathetic portrait of a Neanderthal girl struggling to survive some 40,000 years ago, battling leopards, bison, a brutal winter and starvation. Her vivid survival story is interwoven with the tale of a pregnant archaeologist named Rosamund, who makes a startling discovery when she finds the fossilized remains of a Neanderthal and a human buried next to each other.'' - Alexandra Alter, The New York TimesBut when the canoe dumps the two children on the edge of the woods, and the sister and brother must battle hunger, the elements, and a dangerous wilderness, we see Anna's heartbreaking love for her family - and her struggle to be brave when nothing in her world seems safe anymore. Book details: 241 pages, published 2014. Order now on BookShops.in with fast, reliable delivery across India.