The History of Hank Fielding, A Foundling: By Tom Jones, Esq., In Two Volumes (Volume 1)

On the anniversary of his father’s death, twenty-year old Hank Fielding, an aspiring author with gigantic shoes to fill, takes stock of his life and times and makes a shattering discovery as he and his older brother visit their father’s grave in rural Arkansas. The History of Hank Fielding, A Foundling. By Tom Jones, Esq. is intended as a work of literary fiction. It is somewhat intended as “popular reading” for young adults (like the twenty-year-old Hank), presenting as it does a window into a world vastly different from the present; for there was indeed a time in America when it was possible to get a college education without procuring today’s accompanying and smothering student debt. - Yet, in other ways, the two worlds are remarkable similar. Hank is also intended as “casual reading” for old codgers, like the older Henry, our narrator, who looks back from his seventieth year and observes: "How screwed, indeed!"