A mythical all female society is thrown into turmoil by the appearance of a male child… Strange but compulsive reading.

Doris Lessing is probably best known for her fantastic semi-autobiographical The Golden Notebook – a life-changing book for young women everywhere. In her later years she branched out into old school sci-fi and darker novels such as The Fifth Child. Her latest novel, The Cleft, delves into the never-to-be-resolved swirl of confusion that is the differences between men and women.

An ancient Roman senator pieces together the story of a mythical society from an old manuscript. The all female society, the Cleft, is able to procreate independently (though how is not explained) and for many years they do so. One day, a boy child is born and this throws the women into turmoil, as they are frightened and disturbed by its deformed genitals. The story continues, and despite efforts to kill all the Monsters (as the boy children are called) a male society eventually flourishes over the hill. Over time (there is nothing as specific as dates or years passing) the men and women mate and the women lose their ability to procreate without the men. The two societies eventually become co-dependent with all the familiar frustrations that men and women experience the world over simplified and brought to the forefront.

Doris Lessing portrays the women as nurturing and nagging and the men as adventurous and neglectful. The women live in order and comfort and raise the children, the men live in mess and explore away from their homes. Clumsy stereotypes without a doubt, but these cave-drawing depictions of both sexes tie in with her decision not to develop characters or plot. What characters there are, are purely representative of all the other women and men. It’s not what you’d usually expect from a novel, but weirdly it is utterly compelling reading. And this is because you understand immediately what Lessing is trying to do, which is to somehow get a grip, however slippery, on the ever-elusive difference between men and women. You turn each page eagerly as you follow her quest for enlightenment. And even more weirdly, you get the feeling that in some small ways she has shed a little comforting light.

The Cleft by Doris Lessing is published by Fourth Estate.