Earth's Children Week - Introduction & 2 Giveaways

* UPDATE - THESE GIVEAWAYS HAVE NOW ENDED - Winners announced here *

I have been a massive fan of Jean M Auel's Earth's Children series for about 10 years now since my cousin first recommended the first book The Clan of the Cave Bear to me.  I have read the first 5 books in the series about 5 times since then so you can imagine how excited I was when I found out that book 6 The Land of Painted Caves was finally being released today!  To celebrate the release of the final book in the series I'm going to talking about the series all week on my blog.  I've got lots planned including giveaways (details below), reviews of each of the books and write ups for a very exciting event I was incredibly lucky to attend back in February.  I'm hoping to help spread the love for this incredibly popular series.

In case you've not already seen it here is the trailer for The Land of Painted Caves:



And here is a video of Jean M Auel talking about the book and how she felt when she visited the painted caves for the first time:

Giveaway 1 - UK Only

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton I have 5 copies of the first book in the series to giveaway to UK winners.  The Clan of the Cave Bear is probably still my favorite book in the series, it is one that really captured my heart and I'm very excited to be able to share the story with you.  I'll be posting my review later today but for now here is the cover & description

The first novel in Jean M. Auel's magnificent epic of life on the glacial continent of the last Ice Age, when two kinds of human beings, Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon, shared the earth.

Its heroine is Ayla, a courageous and indominitable young woman whose story begins when she is a five-year-old orphan adopted by the Clan, a group of Neanderthal.

Ayla inspires first surprise, then wariness and finally acceptance by the Clan.  She is cared for by its medicine woman Iza and its wise holy man Creb.  But she makes an implacable enemy of the group's future leader.  Broud does all he can to destroy her, but Ayla is a survivor.

Giveaway details:

• This giveaway is for UK residents only
• 5 winners will each receive a paperback copy of The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel, books will be sent out directly by my contact at Hodder & Stoughton so winners must give permission for me to forward their contact details.
• Winners will be chosen at random from all entries received. 
• Only 1 entry per person please, multiple entries will be deleted.
• To enter please enter your name and email address in the form below (extra entries are available but they are completely optional)
• The giveaway will close on the 8th April 2011 and winners will be announced soon afterwards.  You will have 48 hours to contact me with your address or new winners will be chosen.

Giveaway 2 - International

As a huge fan of this series I wanted to be able to share my love of the books with my international readers too so I am hosting a second giveaway to win a book of your choice from the series.  The winner will get to chose between the following books (links will take you to the Book Depository for more information)

1. The Clan of the Cave Bear
2. The Valley of Horses
3. The Mammoth Hunters
4. The Plains of Passage
5. The Shelters of Stone
6. The Land of Painted Caves

Giveaway Details:

• I will be ordering the winner's choice of book from the Book Depository so the giveaway is open internationally to any country they deliver to. You can check here to make sure that this applies to you. 
• To enter all you have to do is leave a relevant comment on any post with the Earth's Children Week logo.  You can comment on as many of the posts as you like and the winner will be chosen at randome from all comments received between now and the 8th April 2011
• For extra entries post about this topic anywhere (Twitter, Facebook, your Blog - anywhere you like) and leave your link in a separate comment.  You can get an extra entry for each place you post as long as you leave a seperate comment with the link
• You don't have to be a blog follower to enter but of course all followers are appreciated!
• The winner will be chosen at random and announced on my blog soon afterward the closing date - the winner will have 48 hours to contact me with their address and if I don't hear from you within that time a new winner will be chosen