The Shelters of Stone by Jean M. Auel

This book suffers from the same problem as many of the earlier books in the series: Auel is more interested in figuring out how people realized that men are biologically related to their children than in telling a good story. In this installment Ayla and Jondalar arrive at his home after he has been away for five years. The conflicts in the story are of two types: first, some people dislike Ayla because they are petty, jealous, and ashamed of themselves. Second, Ayla want to have it all (be a spiritual leader and a wife and mother) and even though there are no rules against it--and several women who do it successfully--and everyone says that she can do it, she's not sure she can. These conflicts point to a central problem with Ayla: she never has any meaningful conflicts that put her own identity or values into question. In every conflict, the narrative positions her as clearly in the correct, and having such a perfect protagonist is of no real interest.