Riassunto
Trama e riassunto di La valle della Luna
Go deeper: the whole of La valle della Luna
About 11 h 50 min to read.A chi è rivolto
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.
Che cos’è questo libro
What do you do when the city that employs you is also wearing you out? In The Valley of the Moon, published in 1913, Jack London asks this plain question. He wrote it while living on a ranch in Sonoma County, California. The novel follows Saxon Brown, a laundry worker, and Billy Roberts, a teamster and former prizefighter. They fall in love and marry in Oakland. Then strikes, hunger and violence push them to the edge. Instead of giving up, they walk out of the city to find land of their own.
In questo riassunto
- 1Saxon meets Billy at a danceFree
- 2Courtship under a pressured city
- 3Strikes tear into their young marriage
- 4Loss, drink and a marriage in danger
- 5Saxon dreams of leaving Oakland
- 6On the road through California
- 7Learning what good land requires
- 8What the book is really about
- 9How London tells the story
Punto chiave 1 di 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 irons fine clothes for a living. She is tired by the long days, but she is proud, bright and eager for something better.
Her mother crossed the plains in a pioneer wagon train, and Saxon grows up on tales of those sturdy settlers. At a dance she meets Billy Roberts, a big, quiet man who drives a team of horses and boxes for money. He is gentle with her, not a loud boaster.
They are healthy, steady workers who ask for little. The rest of the book tests whether a society that depends on workers like them will let them keep their lives.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Go deeper: the whole of La valle della Luna
About 11 h 50 min to read.Who’s who
- Saxon Brown
- An Oakland laundry worker proud of her pioneer mother, Saxon seeks a secure home with Billy.
- Billy Roberts
- A teamster and former prizefighter, Billy is Saxon's loyal sweetheart, hoping for steady work and marriage.
- Mary
- Saxon's friend and fellow laundry worker, Mary shares her hopes for love and a better future.
- Bert Wanhope
- One of Billy's Oakland friends, Bert drinks readily and argues about the workers' struggle.
- Mercedes Higgins
- An older, worldly neighbor, Mercedes befriends Saxon and offers sometimes bitter advice about life and the body.
- Mark Hall
- A poet whom Saxon and Billy meet on the coast, Mark challenges their thinking about wealth and work.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 175,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 11 h 40 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about La valle della Luna
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 portrays Oakland labor troubles and draws on London's own life, since he was farming in Sonoma County when he wrote it.
Is The Valley of the Moon hard to read?
Not very. The language is plain and the scenes are clear.
What is the main message of The Valley of the Moon?
London argues that independence and a good life depend on having some control over your own work, and that a partnership of trust and effort can find it, especially through working the land.
Cite this edition
London, Jack. The Valley of the Moon. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-valley-of-the-moon.
London, J. (2026). The valley of the moon. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-valley-of-the-moon (Original work published 1913)
London, Jack. The Valley of the Moon. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-valley-of-the-moon.
@book{london2026valley,
author = {London, Jack},
title = {The Valley of the Moon},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-valley-of-the-moon},
note = {First published 1913}
}