Heirs - William Golding

A group of protohumans, perhaps one of the last, goes to their summer camp and unexpectedly encounters their "heirs", people of a new type. Neanderthals are naïve, undeveloped, covered in wool, and do not walk straight, but they have strong family ties, a language and names. The new race — Intelligent people — impresses with its skills, horrifies with its cruelty, spirit of guilt and depravity. She heralds the death of the Sumerian tribe, whose world she will inherit.

This masterful novel by William Golding is a consummate example of prose fiction with carefully crafted imagery, language and atmosphere, with through-and-through social and humanistic criticism woven into the artistic form.