Tom om Sawyer “. was not the model boy of the village” and although he tried to fasten his mind on such dreary matters as schoolwork and painting his aunt’s garden fence, “… his heart ached to be free.”

Tom admires the freedom of his friend, Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard, who sleeps where and when he pleases and does not go to school.

Witnessing a murder, running away to live on an island and turning up at his own funeral are just some of the exploits Tom shares with Huck as together, the two energetic, carefree and guileful friends search for adventure in the small town of St Petersburg on the Mississippi River.