General thought of the group was that no one really enjoyed this book, despite being written by a nobel prize winning author.

I would hope that other books by Doris Lessing made her a very deserved winner, but this one certainly didnt.

It is basically about a group of women (Clefts) who give birth to other female clefts and are horrified when a male species is born and either kill them or sacrifice them believing them to be damaged or mutant.

A colony of eagles rescues these male babies and soon a community of male species learn to survive and this works fine until the two species eventually meet.

The ramifications of this becomes the beginning of life as we know it according to Doris Lessing.

This book borders on fantasy/non-fiction and is told through a roman senator's memoirs.