Tom Jones, Henry Fielding
Tom Jones, Henry Fielding
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Tom Jones

Author: Henry Fielding

Narrator: Anton Lesser, Full Cast

Unabridged: 5 hr 15 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/01/2012

Categories: Fiction, Classic

Synopsis

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Henry Fielding's rollicking comic masterpiece. Found one evening in the bed of the rich and benevolent Mr Allworthy, baby Tom grows up in the guardianship of the kindly squire. He develops into a good-hearted fellow who is nonetheless resented by Allworthy's mean-natured heir and nephew, Blifil. Tom's naive inability to resist a pretty face lands him in hot water when the gamekeeper's daughter declares herself pregnant. Since Tom has fallen in love with the squire's daughter, Sophia, who is herself betrothed to Blifil, the foundling finds himself banished from the Allworthy household. In pursuing the runaway Sophia to London, Tom embarks upon a series of riotous, and frequently amorous, adventures. However further trouble, and the revelation of his true identity, await him in London. Starring Anton Lesser as Tom, with Annette Crosbie, Hannah Gordon, Sarah Badel and Martin Jarvis.

About Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding (1707-1754) started his career as a playwright until his outspoken satirical plays so annoyed Walpole's Government that a new Licensing Act was introduced to drive him from the stage. He turned to writing various 'comic epics in prose', including Shamela and Tom Jones. A master innovator, he is credited with creating the first modern novels in English. He was also a magistrate and co-founder of the Bow Street Runners, often dubbed as London's first professional police force.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Vit on July 07, 2023

Somewhere in the beginning Henry Fielding sets the rule of writing great fiction… …the Excellence of the mental Entertainment consists less in the Subject, than in the Author’s Skill in well dressing it up. And in full accordance with this immutable principle The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling is a......more

Goodreads review by J.G. Keely on March 13, 2008

Who reads this and laughs not at all may be forgiven only as a simpleton, and does not comprehend. Who reads this and laughs but a little is too dour and prideful to be of much use, and only laughs when he cannot help it. Who reads this and laughs a score is the wretched false-wit, and only laughs whe......more

Goodreads review by Michael on August 24, 2017

Here's another wonderful 18th century novel that blows up the easy breezy Shibboleth of "show, don't tell." Here the narrator tells and tells, and I laughed and laughed, and the plot moved like a fine engine through adventure after misadventure.......more

Goodreads review by Roy on June 07, 2016

Fielding being mentioned, Johnson exclaimed, ‘he was a blockhead;’ and upon my expressing astonishment at so strange an assertion, he said ‘What I mean by his being a blockhead is that he was a barren rascal.’ BOSWELL. ‘Will you not allow, Sir, that he draws very natural pictures of human life?’......more

Goodreads review by Kate on February 26, 2009

If a crazed literature professor ever holds a gun to your head and threatens to pull the trigger if you don’t read one of two interminable, gazillion-page satirical British novels (that would be Vanity Fair of the 19th Century or Tom Jones of the 18th Century), I recommend you choose Tom Jones. Tom......more

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