19 h 25 minAudiobook12 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a better life begins with walking away from the only home you know?
In Jack London’s The Valley of the Moon, Saxon Brown irons fine clothes in Oakland, while Billy Roberts works as a teamster. They meet at a dance, fall in love, and marry. But strikes, hunger, and violence press against their hopes for a secure home. Love alone cannot keep the city’s troubles outside their door.
Saxon believes they need to leave. Together, they walk through California’s farms, towns, orchards, and wild country, searching for land of their own. The journey asks more than courage: they must learn what soil, water, climate, and markets demand. Their search for simplicity becomes a practical question about work, independence, and the life a marriage needs.
What you’ll discover
- Love under pressure Follow Saxon and Billy as the struggle for decent work tests their young marriage.
- Oakland close at hand Step into a world of laundry steam, dance halls, and workers fighting for better conditions.
- A woman seeking more Meet Saxon, whose longing for a secure home drives the search beyond Oakland.
- The road through California Walk beside the couple through orchards and wild country as they consider another way to live.
- Land beyond the dream Discover why farming takes knowledge and labor, not simply a wish to escape.
Who will love it
For readers who love a love story with a strong sense of place, and anyone curious about labor and farming in early twentieth century California.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Saxon meets Billy at a dance
- Courtship under a pressured city
- Strikes tear into their young marriage
- Loss, drink and a marriage in danger
- Saxon dreams of leaving Oakland
- On the road through California
- Learning what good land requires
- What the book is really about
- How London tells the story
Who’s who
- Saxon BrownA laundry worker in Oakland, proud of her pioneer mother, who wants a clean, secure home and leads the search for a better life.
- Billy RobertsA strong teamster and former prizefighter, loyal and good-natured, who wants steady work and a wife he can protect.
- MarySaxon's friend and fellow laundry worker, who shares her hopes for love and a better future.
- Bert WanhopeOne of Billy's friends in Oakland, a talker who is quick to drink and argue about the labor fight.
- Mercedes HigginsAn older, worldly neighbor who befriends Saxon and offers her hard-won, sometimes bitter advice about life and the body.
- Mark HallA thoughtful poet and talker whom the couple meet on the coast, who challenges them to think about wealth and work.
Formats and delivery
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- Audiobook
- 19 h 25 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 12 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear El valle de la Luna in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
El valle de la Luna
by Jack London · 1913
Saxon and Billy leave Oakland on foot to find land of their own and a home where their marriage can thrive.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 9
Saxon meets Billy at a dance
The story opens in Oakland, among working people who spend their rare free hours at dances and picnics. Saxon Brown is a young woman who irons fine clothes for a living. She is tired by the long days, but she is proud, bright and eager for something better than the life around her. Her friend Mary works beside her and shares the hope of a good marriage.
Saxon has a story behind her. Her mother, long dead, crossed the plains in a pioneer wagon train and wrote poetry. Saxon has grown up on tales of those early settlers and of an older, sturdier America. She feels she belongs to that line, and the feeling shapes her choices.
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What is The Valley of the Moon about?
It follows Saxon Brown and Billy Roberts, two working people in Oakland who marry, suffer through strikes and hardship, and then leave the city on foot to search California for farmland and a better way to live.
Why is it called The Valley of the Moon?
The title is an English form of a name often given to the Sonoma Valley in California. In the novel it stands for a place of peace and fair reward that the couple hope to find.
Is The Valley of the Moon a true story?
No, it is a novel, published in 1913. But it draws on real events such as Oakland labor troubles and on London's own life, since he was farming in Sonoma County when he wrote it.
The author
Jack London
1876–1916 · American novelist and journalist
Jack London (1876–1916) was an American author, journalist and social activist. He was born in San Francisco and lived in California. He wrote novels, short stories and essays. His novels include The Call of the Wild (1903), The Sea-Wolf (1904), White Fang (1906) and Martin Eden (1909). He died in California.
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