Jonathan Wild The Great (Hesperus Classics)

Jonathan Wild is truly 'great': spurning the callow and spiritless ways of 'lower' men, he treads his own path to fame and glory - by way of theft, fraud and betrayal. Against a backdrop of such colourful characters as the whore Miss Molly Straddle, the cardsharp Count La Ruse, and the 'base' and 'weak' Mr Thomas Heartfree, Wild's passage from cradle to gallows is told with a humour that belies the subtlety of the novel's ironic themes, and the vigour and sparkle characteristic of Fielding's best works. Table of Contents: Foreword by Peter Ackroyd; Jonathan Wild the Great; Book 1; Book 2; Book 3; Book 4; Notes; Biographical note Author Biography: Novelist and dramatist Henry Fielding (1707 - 54) is best known for his light-hearted novels and satires. His masterpiece, Tom Jones, is acknowledged as one of the finest novels in English.