The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Nov 30, 2025 8:33 AM

Author:Mark Twain

The classic boy-hero of American literature.

Impish, daring young Tom Sawyer is the bane of the old, the hero of the young. There were some in his dusty old Missippi town who believed he would be President, if he escaped a hanging. For wherever there is mischief or adventure, Tom is at the heart of it. During one hot summer, Tom witnesses a murder, runs away to be a pirate, attends his own funeral, rescues an innocent man from the gallows, searches for treasure in a haunted house, foils a devilish plot and discovers a box of gold. But can he escape his nemesis, the villainous Injun Joe?

'In this book Twain anticipates every modern American novel, from Salinger to Pynchon' Guardian

Reviews

The hero is one of the most endearing in literature

—— Daily Telegraph

Twain shares a talent for well-observed caricature with Dickens...adventure, social commentary and good humour runs though his fiction

—— Sunday Express

In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Twain anticipates every modern American novel, from Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye to Pynchon's Mason And Dixon, in mapping a fluvial, free-flowing adventure

—— Guardian

Twain had a gift for reliving the innermost feelings of growing up, the insecurity, fears and hopes that lie beneath the swagger that young boys maintain. He turned them into literature

—— Daily Mail

This classic story will stay with you through life, and always remind you of the things that you knew were important when you first read it

—— Katy Guest , The Independent

A terrific and absorbing suspense novel, with a cast of characters you come to really care about and enough twists and turns to keep you on your toes

—— PETER ROBINSON

Book groups of the world, watch out

—— GUARDIAN

A wonderfully clever book, rich in atmosphere, crawling with fascinating characters, and packing a terrific surprise as well

—— Elizabeth George

[A] literary gobstopper with an aniseed heart ... wildly entertaining

—— INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

A diverting and absorbing story which will delight her legions of fans

—— THE SCOTSMAN

Sublime and sweet melancholy suffuses the story. Beautiful

—— Tim Waterstone , The Week

A delicate meditation on mortality, decay and the fading of beauty

—— Martin Sixsmith , The Week

Historical fiction at its best

—— Orlando Figes , The Week

No novel is perfect, but this small, wonderfully atmospheric and immensely poignant story...comes very close

—— Sunday Times, *Summer Reads of 2021*

Blisteringly angry..,begins as a black comedy but gradually turns much darker with the mad-as-hell narrator suspected of murdering his lovers in London

—— Sunday Telegraph

Sutton shows us everything through Freeman's eyes and he pulls it off very well indeed. A horrible character but a compelling narrator

—— William Leith , Evening Standard

Sutton shows us everything through Freeman's eyes and he pulls it off very well indeed

—— William Leith , The Scotsman

This darkly comic novel with it's brilliantly acute observations of life in London in the 21st Century completely captures the zeitgeist and raises more than a few laughs.

—— Carla McKay , Daily Mail

Gripping and darkly comic tale of 21st-century material greed

—— Shortlist

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