How do women treat one another in the absence of men to treat them badly? Martha finds out when, reeling from the shock of yet another failed romance and sick of her own starchy literal-mindedness, she seeks solace among a group of somewhat addled devotees of the ancient matriarchal Goddess.

Befriended by Isis Moonwagon, an academic turned New Age priestess, Martha follows the Goddess worshippers from the upscale beaches of Fire Island to the inhospitable Arizona desert, where a Native American medicine woman bullies them through the punitive rituals of the sweat lodge and vision quest. As petty tensions and major crises escalate out of control, the women's dream of returning to the simple ways of primitive hunters and gatherers shatters under the pressure of a more predatory reality.

1. With the acerbic wit and compassion that have marked her widely acclaimed previous works, Francine Prose here offers a sharp-eyed consideration of how men and women differ in their pursuit - and avoidance - of power, sex, and competition. A satire of the pieties of New Age religion and knee-jerk feminism, Hunters and Gatherers nevertheless radiates sympathy for our efforts to reconcile spiritual longings with our earthbound, all-too-human nature.