39 h 21 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a warm heart counts for less than a spotless reputation?
A baby appears in Squire Allworthy’s bed at Paradise Hall. Raised by the generous landowner, Tom Jones grows into a brave, warm-hearted young man whose impulses keep landing him in trouble. Alongside him grows Master Blifil, careful about his public manners—and about what Allworthy hears.
Tom loves Sophia Western, a clever, kind young woman who refuses an unwanted marriage. But Blifil wants Sophia and the estate, while her father insists on choosing her husband. Henry Fielding carries this comic struggle through country houses, roadside inns and London, asking how anyone can judge goodness beneath appearances.
What you’ll discover
- A heart worth questioning Follow Tom’s generous impulses and reckless choices as he learns that kindness also needs care.
- Sophia stands her ground Meet a woman whose love for Tom does not mean surrendering her own choice.
- Good manners, hidden schemes Watch Blifil cultivate respectability while pursuing Sophia and the estate for himself.
- A narrator with opinions Enjoy a storyteller who speaks directly to you, argues, teases and pauses to reflect.
- England beyond the country house Travel among squires, tutors, maids, landladies and rogues in a broad, bustling social comedy.
Who will love it
For readers who love cheerful stories full of schemes, mistaken identities and sharp social comedy, and anyone curious about eighteenth century England.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A baby is found in Allworthy's bed
- Two boys grow up under one roof
- Sophia Western wins Tom's heart
- Tom is cast out and Sophia runs
- What the story is really about
- How Fielding tells the tale
Who’s who
- Tom JonesA foundling raised at Paradise Hall, warm and brave but impulsive, who loves Sophia Western and must learn to take care.
- Sophia WesternThe clever and kind daughter of a country squire, who loves Tom and refuses to be forced into a marriage she does not want.
- Squire AllworthyA wealthy, generous landowner in Somerset who takes in the baby and raises him, and who tries to judge fairly.
- Master BlifilAllworthy's nephew, raised alongside Tom, who is careful and polite in public and wants Sophia and the estate.
- Squire WesternSophia's loud, hunting-mad father, who loves his daughter but insists on arranging her marriage as he sees fit.
- PartridgeA barber and former schoolmaster who becomes Tom's talkative, nervous companion on the road.
- Mr Thwackum and Mr SquareThe two tutors in Allworthy's house, one a strict clergyman and the other a philosopher, each proud of his own theory.
Formats and delivery
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- Audiobook
- 39 h 21 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Histoire de Tom Jones, enfant trouvé
by Henry Fielding · 1749
Cast out of a rich man's house, Tom Jones crosses England after the woman he loves, meeting rogues along the way.
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In short
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling is a comic novel by Henry Fielding, published in 1749 in eighteen books. Fielding was a playwright, a magistrate and a journalist before he turned to long fiction, and he called his new kind of book a comic epic in prose.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A baby is found in Allworthy's bed
The story opens in Somerset, in the west of England. Squire Allworthy is a wealthy and kind landowner who lives at an estate called Paradise Hall with his sister, Bridget. One evening he comes home from a trip to London, goes to bed, and finds a baby sleeping in his sheets. The child is a boy, and nobody knows whose he is.
Allworthy does not send the child away. He decides to keep the boy and raise him in his own house, and he names him Tom. This tells you at once what kind of man Allworthy is. He is generous and slow to judge. It also sets up the question that hangs over the whole book. Who is Tom, and where does he come from?
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What is Tom Jones about?
It follows a foundling raised in a rich man's house in Somerset. After he is sent away, he travels toward London, chasing the woman he loves, and meets many comic and dishonest people on the way.
Who is Sophia Western in Tom Jones?
Sophia is the daughter of Squire Western, a neighbouring landowner. She is clever, kind and independent, loves Tom, and runs away from home rather than accept a marriage her father has planned.
When was Tom Jones written and is it a true story?
Henry Fielding published it in 1749. It is a work of fiction, though Fielding calls it a history as a joke and fills it with detailed pictures of real English life and places.
The author
Henry Fielding
1707–1754 · English novelist and playwright
Henry Fielding (1707–1754) was an English novelist and dramatist. He was born in Somerset and lived and worked in London, where he also served as a magistrate. He wrote Jonathan Wild (1743), Tom Jones (1749), and Amelia (1751). He travelled to Portugal in 1754 and died in Lisbon that year.
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