Jack London was born in San Francisco to Flora Wellman, a young unmarried woman who had run away from her Ohio family. His father was probably William Chaney, an itinerant astrologer, who left London's mother when he learned of her pregnancy. London was adopted and raised in Oakland and its environs by the man his mother soon after married, John London. The Londons were never able to establish themselves securely; alternating hard work with spiritualism and get-rich-quick-schemes, they struggled to maintain precarious lower-middle-class respectability. Few writers have had such an extensive output of work as Jack London. During his 15-year career, he wrote 49 books, including novels, short-story collections, plays and political pamphlets – a number equalling more than three books a year. The Tears of Ah Kim was first published in June 1916. Ah Kim is a wealthy merchant in Honolulu’s Chinatown who submits uncomplainingly to the beatings which are regularly meted out to him in public by his aged mother, especially for having been seen talking to a certain lady who seems to have her sights set on him. He had always been treated so by his revered parent, ever since his youthful days on the banks of the Yangtze river in China. Through his story we learn the story of the rise to social status and prosperity of the hard-working Chinese imported originally into the Hawaiian islands as coolie labour. You can listen online to free English audiobook “The Tears of Ah Kim” by Jack London on our website.
