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Tomasz Wilmowski (born December 25, 1888) – a fictional character, who appeared in the series of novels written by Alfred Szklarski.

Tomek Wilmowski lives on the turn of the 19th and 20th century. Born, in all probability in 1888. The readers meet him in 1902 as a young boy, growing up in Warsaw and being nurtured by his uncle and aunt. Tomek’s father, Andrzej was forced to escape from Poland due to his plotting against the tsar. Soon after his departure, his wife died, leaving Tomek under the Karskis’ supervision.

Tomek has always been an interesting and thirsty for life boy. He always did well in school, but he never was a top student, because of just one simple fact, his school had gone through the process of Russification and Russian history was there the major subject. Tomek, as befits a young patriot, wanted to render outstanding services to his country, therefore, he refused speaking in Russian. He knew Polish history, as he thought every Polish citizen should know, and he contributed that to his mother. Tomek’s favorite subject in school was geography and his biggest dream was to reunite with his father.

One day, Jan Smuga, a friend of Andrzej Wilmowski, had arrived to the Karskis’ house. He took the boy with him and brought on the meeting with the boy’s father. Andrzej Wilmowski turned out to be a hunter of wild animals and he travelled a lot, working for a German trader Hagenbeck (a real person). Tomek’s first adventure was his journey to Australia. On his boat trip, he met and befriended a warrant officer from Warsaw – Tadeusz Nowicki. Among many things, he thought Tomek how to use a rifle. Certainly, another important thing is that during his visit to Australia, Tomek has met his future wife Sally Allan. Further volumes portray Tomek’s adventures all around the world. He went to Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Egypt and Sudan), to North America where he visited various places in the United States and Mexico, he travelled through Asia (from Russia to Indonesia) and to South America, where he threaded his way through the Amazonian primeval forest. In the last volume of the series, Alfred Szklarski planned on describing Tomek’s adventures in Alaska, but it was interrupted by the author’s death.

The series of books about Tomek’s adventures, set in the first half of the 20th century, portrays exotic journeys of a young lad Tomasz Wilmowski and his fellow Polish emigrants; his noble father, mysterious Smuga, and straightforward bosun Nowicki. Tomek was also occasionally accompanied by his beautiful wife, Sally Allan and Tomek’s cousin Zbyszek with his Russian wife Natasha. The novels are written in a refreshing and youthful manner, which conveys the author’s longing for a great adventure, but they also display Szklarski’s impressive level of erudition, as well as a strong patriotic spirit.

The character of Tomek Wilmowski is based on the protagonist of Szklarski’s first novel intended for young readers, titled ‘Tom gets into trouble’ (Tomek w tarapatach). It was first published in 1948, under the pen name, Fred Garland. The novel was published again in 2004 under Szklarski’s real name.

Last updated: 2015-12-16