Al-Warraq Library does not host book files; it takes you to the copy at the original source. Public-domain status differs from country to country, so check the law where you live before downloading or republishing the book. Do you hold rights in this work? Request its removal
In the London of 1547, two boys born on the same day meet by chance: Tom Canty, a beggar's son from Offal Court, and Prince Edward, heir to Henry VIII. They…
In the London of 1547, two boys born on the same day meet by chance: Tom Canty, a beggar's son from Offal Court, and Prince Edward, heir to Henry VIII. They swap clothes for fun, the guards throw the real prince out of the palace, and each must survive in the other's world. Edward learns how harsh his father's laws are for the poor, while Tom discovers the absurd rituals of the court.
Context and significance
Published in 1881, it was Mark Twain's first historical novel, and it is often given to young readers, but beneath the comedy is a sharp attack on cruel punishments and inherited privilege. It makes a good companion to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, his other trip into the English past.
About the author
Samuel Clemens (1835–1910) grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi, and worked as a printer's apprentice, a steamboat pilot, a silver prospector in Nevada and a newspaper reporter before he became Mark Twain. A comic story about a jumping frog made his name in 1865, and his lectures and travel books made him the most famous American writer of his time.