Oliver Twist

About this Book

Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress is Charles Dickens' second novel, originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839. The story centres on orphan Oliver Twist, born in a workhouse and sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker. After escaping, Oliver travels to London, where he meets 'The Artful Dodger', a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin. In an unsparing satire of society, Dickens exposes the cruel treatment of the impoverished orphans and the dark underbelly of 19th-century London.