The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Fiction, Classics

"Most people easily picture Twain's long white handlebar moustache and can practically hear his riverman's drawl. Readers know he's Samuel Langhorne Clemens, and he's Mark Twain, and they've painted fences right alongside Tom Sawyer. Any number of young men have had crushes on Becky Thatcher, and any number of young women have laughed at Huck Finn's way of threading a needle. But none of Twain's eleven novels, nine travel books, and countless short stories and essays would have achieved their status had he not first paid attention himself: to everyone and everything that lived in his world."
-- from Amy Sterling Casil's Introduction

Mark Twain (1835-1910)
A legendary American writer and humourist, Mark Twain authored twenty eight books and many sketches and short stories. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910). He was born and brought up in the American state of Missouri. He left school to earn his living when he was only twelve following the death of his father. He was a great adventurer and travelled around America. He returned to his native place to become a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River. The Civil War put an end to steam-boating and Clemens joined the Confederate army. He was already engaged in newspaper reporting and became a successful journalist. He started to use the alias Mark Twain during the Civil War and this pen name made him a famous travel writer.
Mark Twain was nostalgic about his childhood and in 1876 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published, based on his own experiences. The book was soon recognised as a work of genius. Mark Twain was soon famous all over the world. He earned money from writing and lost it on a typesetter he invented. He then made another fortune and lost it on a bad investment. He was an impetuous, hot-tempered man but was also quite sentimental and superstitious. Twain was born when Halley's Comet was passing the Earth and he always believed he would die when the comet returned - the same happened exactly.