The Valley of the Moon

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The Valley of the Moon (1913) is a novel by American writer Jack London as well as an old mythic and romantic name for the wine-growing Sonoma Valley of California. This valley is located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in Sonoma County, California. Jack London was a resident of the Valley of the Moon, he built his ranch in Glen Ellen. The valley is now home of the Jack London State Historic Park and numerous vineyards.

[edit] Book Summary

The novel Valley of the Moon is a story of a working-class couple, Billy and Saxon Roberts, struggling laborers in Oakland at the Turn-of-the-Century, who left the city life behind and searched Central and Northern California for a suitable farmland to own. The book is notable for the scenes in which the proletarian hero enjoys fellowship with the artists' colony in Carmel, and he settles in the Valley of the Moon.

[edit] Legend of

The phrase Valley of the Moon was first recorded in a 1850 report by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo to the California Legislature. (1).

According to London, the Native American word Sonoma means Valley of the Moon. Actually there are several other possible translations for Sonoma (see Sonoma County, California). According to the Coastal Miwok tribes that lived in the valley, and the Pomo, it meant "valley of the moon" or "many moons". White settlers may have accidentally translated the words "many moons" into "valley of moons". Miwok legends say that the moon seemingly rose from this valley, or was "nestled" in the valley, or may have even sprung up multiple times in one night. (2)

[edit] Sources

The Valley of the Moon, available freely at Project Gutenberg

Hanna, Phil Townsend. The dictionary of California land names. Los Angeles: The Automobile Club of Southern California, 1951, p. 311.
Indian Country - Legend of Valley of the Moon, 'Why Graton...?' by May, James, 2003.