Mark Twain

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain Unabridged edition

[Read by Tom Parker -aka- Grover Gardner]

Huck Finn is an orphaned drifter who loves freedom more than respectability. He isn't above lying and stealing, but he faces a battle with his conscience when he meets up with a runaway slave named Jim, who provides him with his first experiences of love, acceptance, and a sense of responsibility. -- The title character of this famous novel tells his own story in a straightforward narrative laced with shrewd, sharp comments on human nature. The boy's adventures along the Mississippi River provide a framework for a series of moral lessons, revelations of a corrupt society, and contrasts between innocence and hypocrisy. The colorful cast of characters - including the crafty grifters, the Duke and the King - help make this a memorable classic.

When he was nine years old, H. L. Mencken read Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which he later described as ''the most stupendous event in my life,'' and he determined to become a writer himself.