The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

A Novel

Mark Twain

• Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
• Year: 2025
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9780063439894
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

One of the best-known classics of American literature, Mark Twain's indelible novel of boyhood, friendship, and adventure.

Few works of fiction are more known and beloved for keenly documenting the triumphs, trials, exultations, and despairs of boyhood than The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Set in 1840s Missouri, Mark Twain's picaresque novel follows a rambunctious, rebellious rascal whose exploits are the delight of the town boys and the bane of the adults trying to “civilize” them at home, in school, and at church.

Tom and his friends, including Huck Finn (the son of the town drunk and star of Twain’s subsequent masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), skip school and run away, play pirates and robbers, go hunting in caves, fake their own deaths, poke around haunted houses, frolic along the river banks, and triumphantly interrupt their own funeral sermons. They believe in magic and superstitions, witness body snatchers and murder, and search for—and find—buried treasure.

Twain's mastery of satire and droll humor, his unparalleled narrative skill in capturing the incomparable fierce joys of childhood, and his piercing attentiveness to the ever-present tension between the freedom of adolescence and the confining expectations of social propriety have made this timeless tale of Americana a revered classic for generations that continues to enthrall readers today.

This deluxe edition features French flaps, a deckle edge, and a stunning cover designed using authentic printers and metal/wood type manufactured in the 1840s.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• I: Y-o-u-u Tom—Aunt Polly Decides Upon Her Duty—Tom Practises Music—The Challenge—A Private Entrance
• II: Strong Temptations—Strategic Movements—The Innocents Beguiled
• III: Tom as a General—Triumph and Reward—Dismal Felicity—Commission and Omission
• IV: Mental Acrobatics—Attending Sunday-School—The Superintendent—“Showing Off”—Tom Lionized
• V: A Useful Minister—In Church—The Climax
• VI: Self-Examination—Dentistry—The Midnight Charm—Witches and Devils—Cautious Approaches—Happy Hours
• VII: A Treaty Entered Into—Early Lessons—A Mistake Made
• VIII: Tom Decides on His Course—Old Scenes Re-enacted
• IX: A Solemn Situation—Grave Subjects Introduced—Injun Joe Explains
• X: The Solemn Oath—Terror Brings Repentance—Mental Punishment
• XI: Muff Potter Comes Himself—Tom’s Conscience at Work
• XII: Tom Shows His Generosity—Aunt Polly Weakens
• XIII: The Young Pirates—Going to the Rendezvous—The Camp-Fire Talk
• XIV: Camp-Life—A Sensation—Tom Steals Away from Camp
• XV: Tom Reconnoiters—Learns the Situation—Reports at Camp
• XVI: A Day’s Amusements—Tom Reveals a Secret—The Pirates Take a Lesson—A Night Surprise—An Indian War
• XVII: Memories of the Lost Heroes—The Point in Tom’s Secret
• XVIII: Tom’s Feelings Investigated—Wonderful Dream—Becky Thatcher Overshadowed—Tom Becomes Jealous—Black Revenge
• XIX: Tom Tells the Truth
• XX: Becky in a Dilemma—Tom’s Nobility Asserts Itself
• XXI: Youthful Eloquence—Compositions by the Young Ladies—A Lengthy Vision—The Boy’s Vengeance Satisfied
• XXII: Tom’s Confidence Betrayed—Expects Signal Punishment
• XXIII: Old Muff’s Friends—Muff Potter in Court—Muff Potter Saved
• XXIV: Tom as the Village Hero—Days of Splendor and Nights of Horror—Pursuit of Injun Joe
• XXV: About Kings and Diamonds—Search for the Treasure—Dead People and Ghosts
• XXVI: The Haunted House—Sleepy Ghosts—A Box of Gold—Bitter Luck
• XXVII: Doubts to Be Settled—The Young Detectives
• XXVIII: An Attempt at Number Two—Huck Mounts Guard
• XXIX: The Picnic—Huck on Injun Joe’s Track—The “Revenge” Job—Aid for the Widow
• XXX: The Welshman Reports—Huck Under Fire—The Story Circulated—A New Sensation—Hope Giving Way to Despair
• XXXI: An Exploring Expedition—Trouble Commences—Lost in the Cave—Total Darkness—Found, but Not Saved
• XXXII: Tom Tells the Story of Their Escape—Tom’s Enemy in Safe Quarters
• XXXIII: The Fate of Injun Joe—Huck and Tom Compare Notes—An Expedition to the Cave—Protection Against Ghosts—“An Awful Snug Place”—A Reception at the Widow Douglas’
• XXXIV: Springing a Secret—Mr. Jones’ Surprise a Failure
• XXXV: A New Order of Things—Poor Huck—New Adventures Planned
• Conclusion
• Harper’s Storied History with Mark Twain
• About the Author
• A Note on the Cover Design
• Also by Mark Twain
• Copyright
• About the Publisher