Writer John Steinbeck's first wife, Carol Henning Steinbeck, was his creative anchor and muse. They met at Lake Tahoe in 1928, their unconventional personalities meshing in artistic synergy. Their literary milieu in 1930s California included Modernist artists and writers such as Lincoln Steffens and Joseph Campbell. This biography reveals much about the dynamic partnership that brought forth one of the great novels of the 20th century, The Grapes of Wrath.