In 1930, John Steinbeck was a nobody. He was 27, broke, and newly married to his soulmate, Carol Henning. They swiftly moved into his father’s cottage in Pacific Grove, California, where they could live rent-free. Steinbeck spent his days writing at the kitchen table until his fingers hurt, while Carol searched for work to keep them fed. His first novel, Cup of Gold, published in 1929, had sold only 1,500 copies. The advance had long since vanished. Between 1930 and 1935, Steinbeck published two