# The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson

**Author:** Mark Twain
**Tags:** Missouri, Race relations, Legal stories, Impostors and imposture, Trials (Murder), Infants switched at birth, Passing (Identity)
**Price:** Free
**Formats:** DOCX, EPUB, FB2, PDF, TXT
**Downloads:** 46
**Added:** 10.07.2026
**URL:** https://samolit.com/books/95983

## Description

In the sleepy, antebellum Missouri town of Dawson’s Landing, a daring act by Roxy, a light-skinned enslaved woman, forever alters the lives of two infants. Fearing her own son, Valet de Chambre, will be sold downriver, she secretly switches him with her master’s white baby, Tom Driscoll. This audacious swap sets in motion a twenty-three-year saga of mistaken identities, social upheaval, and deep-seated prejudice.

As the boys grow into men—one raised in privilege but descending into villainy, the other enduring the harsh realities of slavery with an inherent nobility—the town’s eccentric lawyer, David "Pudd'nhead" Wilson, quietly pursues his unusual hobby of collecting fingerprints. His seemingly idle pastime becomes the key to unraveling a shocking murder, exposing the truth behind the switched infants, and challenging the very foundations of racial identity and justice in a society grappling with its own moral contradictions. This gripping tale by Mark Twain explores the profound impact of nature versus nurture and the devastating consequences of a single, desperate decision.