Oliver Twist (version 6)

About this book

"Please sir, I want some more," the famous line spoken by Oliver Twist at age nine, becomes the tipping point of a huge change in Oliver's life. He is soon captured into the service of Fagin and his gang of pick-pocketing boys. But, Mr. Brownlow saves him from arrest, and for the first time in his young life Oliver finds comfort and caring. Unfortunately, he is recaptured into the seedy and disgusting world he had escaped, and meets with Bill Sykes, a dangerous criminal. There are numerous delightful or wicked characters that carry the story along, such as the Artful Dodger-- a boy of the streets under Fagin, Mr. Bumble the Beadle, looking for ways to get rid of Oliver, Nancy who makes a fateful betrayal, and the Maylies, whose affection Oliver craves. The author's descriptions of the back street life in London, bring us full force into the crushing poverty and the terrible way in which poor people were treated during that time. Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist as a serial in 1837, and it is considered one of the most popular in English literature. - Summary by Mil Nicholson