Among the earliest English works to be classified as a novel, Henry Fielding's influential comic masterpiece is the prototype of the picaresque novel and a true classic. Tom, a foundling, is brought up as a son in the household of the benevolent Squire Allworthy; when his sexual escapades and supposed misbehavior lead to his banishment, he sets out in search of both his fortune and his true identity. Amorous and high-spirited, Tom is one of the first characters in English fiction whose human virtues and vices are realistically depicted.

"Two hundred years have not dimmed Fielding's realism. His humor is closer to our own than that of any writer before the present century."—Kingsley Amis