Dyer claims that William Chaney and Flora were actually married; other accounts have them as common-law spouses, or even as transitory lovers. He agrees with Jack London himself and other biographers that despite his denials, Chaney was London's biological father; according to Dyer, when contacted by London, Chaney denied all and cut off his son from communication. In any case, Jack London always regarded his mother's next husband, John London, as his true father. John London was a man of ambition, and as Jack would many years later, he tried to make a go of farming; bad luck and ill health forced him to quit. This meant that Jack had to go to work to help support his family. His mother earned money by conducting seances, but it was not enough to pay rent on a house and feed and clothe Jack and two...