"The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them..." The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, inspired by Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived. Mark Twain created two of the most enduring and beloved fictional characters when he introduced the energetic young whippersnapper Tom Sawyer and his b...