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Start giftingThe Prince and the Pauper
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Learn moreThey look alike, but they live in very different worlds. Tom Canty, impoverished and abused by his father, is fascinated with royalty. Edward Tudor, heir to the throne of England, is kind and generous but wants to run free and play in the river—just once. How insubstantial their differences truly are becomes clear when a chance encounter leads to an exchange of clothing—and roles. The pauper finds himself caught up in the pomp and folly of the royal court, a role which is further complicated when the king dies soon after the switch; and the prince wanders horror-stricken through the lower strata of English society.
Out of the theme of switched identities, Mark Twain fashioned both a fiery assault upon social hypocrisy and injustice and a riotous comedy filled with high-spirited play.
Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, Mark Twain spent his youth in Hannibal, Missouri, which forms the setting for his two greatest works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Trying his hand at printing, typesetting and then gold-mining, the former steam-boat pilot eventually found his calling in journalism and travel writing. Dubbed 'the father of American literature' by William Faulkner, Twain died in 1910 after a colourful life of travelling, bankruptcy and great literary success.
Steve West is an award-winning actor from London who began his career in theatre before beginning to work in television and film. Now, he works regularly as a voice actor for films, video games, animation, and audiobooks, of which he has recorded over 170 titles. A SOVAS Award winner and a multiple Earphones Award winner, he has received many accolades including being nominated for multiple Audies and being named an Audiofile and Romantic Times Best Romance Narrator of the Year.
Reviews
“A long, very readable narrative, extravagant in its substance, but simply told.”
“Funny, adventurous, and exciting, yet also chock-full of…exquisitely reasoned harangues against society’s ills.”
“The tale is full of romantic surprises, and besides being rich in historical facts and teachings, is charged with a generous and ennobling moral.”
“The Prince and the Pauper is called by its author Mark Twain ‘a Tale for Young People of All Ages.’ We might add that it is a tale for old people of all ages as well...Its humour is delicate; its fun joyously real; and its pathos tender and deep. It does one good to read it, and that in these days is saying a great deal.”
“The characters come and go, live and breathe, suffer and rejoice, in an atmosphere of perfect reality, and with a vivid identity rarely to be found...The story is told with ineffable humor...full of a really admirable lesson, admirably told.”
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