The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer would rather do anything than what he is told, which is how he cons half the neighborhood boys into paying him for the privilege of whitewashing his aunt's fence. Twain's small Missouri town on the Mississippi is a paradise of pranks, superstitions, first love with Becky Thatcher, and pirate games on the river with Huckleberry Finn, the envy of every respectable boy because nobody makes him wash.

Then one midnight errand to a graveyard shows Tom and Huck something no game prepared them for, and the book tilts from comedy toward real danger, with a trial, a manhunt, a labyrinthine cave, and buried treasure. Twain narrates it all with the dry adult wink that has kept this book alive for 150 years; it may be the most purely pleasurable few hours in American literature.

At roughly 72,400 words, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer runs about 8 hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is in the public domain, so the complete text is free on Project Gutenberg and LoudReader has the entire Project Gutenberg catalog built in. To listen:

1. Download LoudReader for Mac or iPhone (free, no account).
2. Search for “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

LoudReader reads with natural offline voices, so the whole book works on a plane or underground. It is fully on-device and private, your library never leaves your device. Listening is unlimited on the free tier.