What if Joey Tribbiani had been born in 1740?

The answer: You'd have Tom Jones! Oh, how I loved this novel.

Come with me as we consider a novel that's been rather lost, overshadowed by all the delightful 19th century English writers like Dickens, Austen, and even Trollope. The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling, by Henry Fielding, is a love story with 900 pages of twists and turns to get the ending you know is coming. I thought there was no way I'd hang in there, but it turns out that this novel was a page-turner, delivering surprises until the very last chapter.

As part of my "Brit Lit" set that I was reading in preparation for my vacation in England, I'll share whether this one made the grade, and if it leads me down any other rabbit holes.

I hope you enjoy this episode half as much as I enjoyed the novel. And for fun, there's even the 1963 movie--and it WON the Best Picture Oscar that year!

Next week we are back to history, but in a really cool way: Bijan Omrani traces England's history not through wars and treaties, but through architecture, song, and literature. See you next week!

BOOKS

In this episode: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (Henry Fielding)

The complete list of Crack the Book Episodes (Amazon affiliate links): https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2r

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