Tom Brown’s School Days

Thomas Hughes, 1857

Children's classics Victorian novels

A boy's education grows out of the family and country life that precede his school years.

Read the book Contents

Length: 18 chapters
Reading time: About 7 hr 22 min
Words: 105,085

About the book

Before sending Tom Brown to school, the narrator describes the Browns and the rural world in which a boy begins learning how to live among others. Local traditions and early encounters provide a setting for the later experiences promised by the title.

Hughes treats education as something broader than lessons. Family habits, friendship and the conduct expected of a young person all belong to his account. The direct, conversational narration often pauses to explain its values, making the story an invitation to consider what kinds of experience help form judgement and character.

On these lists

Children's classics Victorian novels

This edition

Text from Standard Ebooks, who proofread and typeset it and dedicate their edition to the public domain. Thomas Hughes died more than 70 years ago, so the work is out of copyright in the UK. Includes the original frontispiece.