Pudd'nhead Wilson

Mark Twain’s darkest novel combines a murder mystery and courtroom drama with a provocative fable about race, identity, and slavery.

Twain’s darkest novel—about a master and slave switched at birth—combines a courtroom drama with a provocative fable about race and identity. Twain’s plot is set in motion when a slave named Roxy exchanges her light-skinned son Chambers with her master’s baby, Tom. Roxy’s child, now known as Tom, grows up as a spoiled, privileged white man, who is horrif…