Paperback. Pub Date :2008-01-07 Pages: 288 Language: English Publisher: HarperCollins UK Doris Lessing. winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. invites us to imagine a mythical society free from sexual intrigue. free from jealousy. free from petty rivalries: a society free from men.An old Roman senator embarks on what may be his last endeavour: the retelling of the story of human creation He recounts the history of the Clefts. an ancient community of women living in an Edenic. coastal wilderness. . in the valley of an overshadowing mountain The Clefts have no need. or knowledge. of men -. childbirth is controlled through the cycles of the moon. and their children are always female But with the birth of a strange. new child -. a boy - the harmony of their community is thrown into jeopardy.At first. the Clefts are awestruck by this seemingly malformed child. but as more and ...