Chapter 17 of The Valley of the Moon is here in full — 380 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVII
Chapter 17 of The Valley of the Moon is here in full — 380 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Saxon went about her housework greatly troubled. She no longer devoted herself to the making of pretties. The materials cost money, and she did not dare. Bert's thrust had sunk home. It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
Chapter 17 of The Valley of the Moon is here in full — 380 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/76 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
the work of cleaning and running a house
From this reading “Saxon went about her housework greatly troubled.”
plural of “material” — the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object
From this reading “The materials cost money, and she did not dare.”
a shaky motion
From this reading “It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.”
past form of “rankle” — gnaw into; make resentful or angry
From this reading “It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.”
a member of a Germanic people who conquered England and merged with the Angles and Jutes to become Anglo-Saxons; dominant in England until the Norman Conquest
From this reading “Saxon went about her housework greatly troubled.”
a line that forms the length of an arrow pointer
From this reading “It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.”
an alloy of iron with small amounts of carbon; widely used in construction; mechanical properties can be varied over a wide range
From this reading “It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.”
doomed to extinction
From this reading “Bert's thrust had sunk home.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading Saxon went about her housework greatly troubled.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The materials cost money, and she did not dare.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Bert's thrust had sunk home.
an alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
the total spent for goods or services including money and time and labor
From this reading The materials cost money, and she did not dare.
take upon oneself; act presumptuously, without permission
From this reading The materials cost money, and she did not dare.
zealous in devotion or affection
From this reading She no longer devoted herself to the making of pretties.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading The materials cost money, and she did not dare.
at any time
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
to an extraordinary extent or degree
From this reading Saxon went about her housework greatly troubled.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Bert's thrust had sunk home.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Saxon went about her housework greatly troubled.
used when the woman or girl doing the action is also its object
From this reading She no longer devoted herself to the making of pretties.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading Bert's thrust had sunk home.
the work of cleaning and running a house
From this reading Saxon went about her housework greatly troubled.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
for more time
From this reading She no longer devoted herself to the making of pretties.
the act that results in something coming to be
From this reading She no longer devoted herself to the making of pretties.
plural of “material” — the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object
From this reading The materials cost money, and she did not dare.
the most common medium of exchange; functions as legal tender
From this reading The materials cost money, and she did not dare.
not any; not one
From this reading She no longer devoted herself to the making of pretties.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading The materials cost money, and she did not dare.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading She no longer devoted herself to the making of pretties.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading She no longer devoted herself to the making of pretties.
a shaky motion
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
past form of “rankle” — gnaw into; make resentful or angry
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
past form of “remain” — stay the same; remain in a certain state
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
a member of a Germanic people who conquered England and merged with the Angles and Jutes to become Anglo-Saxons; dominant in England until the Norman Conquest
From this reading Saxon went about her housework greatly troubled.
a line that forms the length of an arrow pointer
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She no longer devoted herself to the making of pretties.
an alloy of iron with small amounts of carbon; widely used in construction; mechanical properties can be varied over a wide range
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
doomed to extinction
From this reading Bert's thrust had sunk home.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading She no longer devoted herself to the making of pretties.
push forcefully
From this reading Bert's thrust had sunk home.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading She no longer devoted herself to the making of pretties.
characterized by or indicative of distress or affliction or danger or need
From this reading Saxon went about her housework greatly troubled.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading It remained in her quivering consciousness like a shaft of steel that ever turned and rankled.
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading Saxon went about her housework greatly troubled.
Chapter 17 of The Valley of the Moon by Jack London holds 380 sentences, grouped into 76 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 17 holds 380 sentences of The Valley of the Moon, unabridged, divided into 76 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 17 of The Valley of the Moon by Jack London exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 380 sentences, grouped into 76 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 76 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 76 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 17 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading The Valley of the Moon by Jack London on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 13507 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1449 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1449, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2702 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Valley of the Moon section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of The Valley of the Moon to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in The Valley of the Moon, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
