SOURCE: "Jean Auel," in Publisher's Weekly, Vol. 228, November 29, 1985, pp. 50-51.

In the following interview, Bongartz provides biographical information about Auel and describes the development of her "Earth's Children" series.

Jean Auel, the nonstop neophyte author of the fast-selling Earth's Children fictional saga—The Valley of Horses, The Clan of the Cave Bear and, just out from Crown, The Mammoth Hunters (Fiction Forecasts, Nov. 1), with three more novels to follow—began her writing career after reaching 40, having engaged in several others, including housewifery and the raising of five children, in Portland, Ore. Auel, a plump, cheerful woman with blue eyes and blonde hair, had, with her husband Ray, also earned a college degree by attending night classes for 12 years.

In 1977, with the children growing up and the studies completed, she was just about to raise her sights and go into the banking profession when one night at bedtime, an...