At the heart of Dickens’s second novel is a story as much about crime and poverty as it is about justice and charity. Orphaned at birth, Oliver Twist grows up under the loveless, relentless watch of a workhouse. He runs away with hopes for a better life in London, only to become–at the hands of the unforgettable Artful Dodger–a guileless pawn in a gang of pickpockets and robbers working for Fagin, one of Dickens’s most controversial villains. Full of ingenious plot twists, at turns thrilling, tragic, tender, and sharp-eyed, Oliver Twist is among Dickens’s most enduring classics; the story of a young orphan who dares to say, “Please, sir, I want some more.”
