A writer and editor, Netta Wiley taught Charmian at home, emphasizing literature, the fine arts, and piano.

[2] When the Eames household moved to Berkeley, California, Charmian became exposed to leaders in the Arts and Crafts movement, which shaped her aesthetics.

In 1897, she participated in a three day horseback ride to Yosemite, where she joined a group of celebrated scientists, painters, photographers, political leaders, and founders of the Sierra Club.

These enabled further education at Mills College, where she concentrated on a non-degree program of literature, the arts, and philosophy.

An avid horseback rider, she created a split skirt to ride astride, this during a time women rode sidesaddle.

[7] Five years younger than Charmian, London found her literary knowledge impressive and admired her support for Socialism.

They met on several occasions at Charmian's home in Berkeley to discuss literature including the works Tess of the d'Urbervilles, The Forest Lovers, and Flood-Tide.

[9] She also became part of Jack's social circle of Bohemian artists and writers known as The Crowd and started attending their weekly gatherings at the Londons' home.

In the summer of 1903, London took his family to a resort in Glen Ellen, California, Wake Robin, then owned by Netta Wiley Eames.

The couple settled at Wake Robin and developed a plan to buy land on Sonoma Mountain for ranching.

First, she was the model for many of his fictional characters, such as Saxon in The Valley of the Moon, Lute in Planchette, and Paula in The Little Lady of the Big House.

Latest scholarship reveals Charmian was a collaborator as well on many of Jack's books, including The Valley of the Moon and The Mutiny of Elsinore.

[17] Jack died of uremia and renal colic in 1916, bequeathing nearly his entire estate to Charmian, while leaving token amounts to his first wife and their children.

Perhaps her most significant activity to publicize London's works was trips abroad to arrange good translations and protect copyrights.

One biographer calls it "an uneven account that omits Jack's illegitimacy, yet has surprisingly frank information nonetheless concerning his personality.

This led in 1935 to her inviting Irving Stone to the ranch to study the extensive collection of letters and documents needed for the work.

His Sailor on Horseback earned reviewer criticism for lifting material from London's fiction as fact, emphasis upon excessive womanizing, and failures as a writer and rancher.

[27] Her longest and most emotional relationship was with Frederick O'Brien, then a popular writer of South Sea travel accounts.