Abandoned as an infant and of unknown parentage Tom Jones is raised in the household of the
irreproachable altruistic Squire Allworthy. Growing up to be a high-spirited lusty youth Tom
finds himself vulnerable to temptation in the form of the local wenches though his heart is
ultimately claimed by the beautiful Sophia Western the daughter of a neighbouring landowner.
When Tom's erotic misadventures compel the squire to expel him from his home and when Sophia
flees from her domineering and boisterous father to avoid an undesired union with the odious
Master Blifil a colourful picaresque journey through eighteenth-century England ensues one
punctuated by a parade of unforgettable Hogarthian grotesques and timeless comic set-pieces.
Characterized by both razor-sharp wit and broad bawdy humour and described by Coleridge as
boasting one of the "three most perfect plots ever planned" Tom Jones was an instant hit on
its publication in 1749 and is widely considered one of the greatest works of English
literature and a foundation stone in the development of the English novel.
