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The Call of the Wild is a novel by American writer Jack London. The plot concerns a previously domesticated dog named Buck, whose primordial instincts return after a series of events leads to his serving as a sled-dog in the Yukon during the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush, in which sled-dogs were bought at generous prices. The Call of the Wild is London\'s most-read book, and it is generally considered his best, the masterpiece of his so-called “early period”. Because the protagonist is a dog, it is sometimes classified as a juvenile novel, suitable for children, but it is dark in tone and contains numerous scenes of cruelty and violence. The Call of the Wild features in the reading-list recommended by the CBSE. About the Author Jack London (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916 was an American author who wrote The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea Wolf along with many other popular books. A pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first Americans to make a lucrative career exclusively from writing. Biographer Clarice Stasz and others believe that London\'s father was astrologer William Chaney. London\'s mother, Flora Wellman, a music teacher and spiritualist who claimed to channel the spirit of an Indian chief, became pregnant, presumably from her union with Chaney, with whom she lived in San Francisco. Whether Wellman and Chaney were legally married is unknown. According to Flora Wellman\'s account as recorded in the San Francisco Chronicle of June 4, 1875, Chaney demanded that she have an abortion, and when she refused, he disclaimed responsibility for the child. In desperation, she shot have an abortion, and when she refused, he disclaimed responsibility for the child. In desperation, she shot herself. She was not seriously wounded, but she was temporarily deranged. After she gave birth, Flora turned the baby over to ex-slave Virginia Prentiss, who would remain a major maternal figure throughout London\'s life. Late in 1876, Flora Wellman married John London, a partially disabled Civil War veteran, and baby John, later known as Jack, came to live with the newly married couple.