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Oliver Twist (version 3)

by Charles DICKENS (1812 - 1870)

IN WHICH A MYSTERIOUS CHARACTER APPEARS UPON THE SCENE; AND MANY THINGS, INSEPARABLE FROM THIS HISTORY, ARE DONE AND PERFORMED

Oliver Twist was published in 1838 as a three volume book. The novel was the first of Dickens' works to realistically portray the degradation and impoverishment of the London underworld and its denizens. Dickens utilises the environment and characters to illustrate his belief that poverty leads to crime. The plot of this novel centres around and follows the journey of the parish boy "Oliver Twist." Oliver has been in the parish orphanage all his short life, a place overcrowded and constantly short of food. When Oliver has the temerity to ask for more after the evening meal of gruel he astonishes and horrifies the parish board and the parish beadle. They promptly sell him on to the local undertaker for the princely sum of 5 pounds. Oliver runs away and thus the journey begins! Oliver is drawn unwittingly into the London criminal underworld by a superbly characterised pickpocket; one known as 'The Artful Dodger' a streetwise, flamboyant boy who is a master at his craft. He is introduced to the unscrupulous Jew named 'Fagin' who controls the complete gang of pickpockets and ruffians. Oliver is uncomfortable in this den of iniquity and absconds, he is sheltered by a man who spots something about Oliver's demeanour and features which lead him to investigate his parentage. Before long Oliver is retaken by the bullying, insensitive criminal housebreaker 'Bill Sykes' and once more finds himself caught in Fagin's coils. As the plot unwinds we meet many finely drawn good and bad characters, and the vivid descriptions of the seamier side of London in that period are superlative. - Summary by Peter Keeble

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Listen next episodes of Oliver Twist (version 3):
AFFORDING AN EXPLANATION OF MORE MYSTERIES THAN ONE, AND COMPREHENDING A PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE WITH NO WORD OF SETTLEMENT OR PIN-MONEY , AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE OF OLIVER'S, EXHIBITING DECIDED MARKS OF GENIUS, BECOMES A PUBLIC CHARACTER IN THE METROPOLIS , AND LAST , ATONES FOR THE UNPOLITENESS OF A FORMER CHAPTER; WHICH DESERTED A LADY, MOST UNCEREMONIOUSLY , CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT PASSED BETWEEN MR. AND MRS. BUMBLE, AND MR. MONKS, AT THEIR NOCTURNAL INTERVIEW , CONTAINING FRESH DISCOVERIES, AND SHOWING THAT SUPRISES, LIKE MISFORTUNES, SELDOM COME ALONE , CONTAINING THE UNSATISFACTORY RESULT OF OLIVER'S ADVENTURE; AND A CONVERSATION OF SOME IMPORTANCE BETWEEN HARRY MAYLIE AND ROSE , CONTAINS SOME INTRODUCTORY PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO A YOUNG GENTLEMAN WHO NOW ARRIVES UPON THE SCENE; AND A NEW ADVENTURE WHICH HAPPENED TO OLIVER , FAGIN'S LAST NIGHT ALIVE , FATAL CONSEQUENCES , HAS AN INTRODUCTORY ACCOUNT OF THE INMATES OF THE HOUSE, TO WHICH OLIVER RESORTED , IN WHICH THE READER MAY PERCEIVE A CONTRAST, NOT UNCOMMON IN MATRIMONIAL CASES , INTRODUCES SOME RESPECTABLE CHARACTERS WITH WHOM THE READER IS ALREADY ACQUAINTED, AND SHOWS HOW MONKS AND THE JEW LAID THEIR WORTHY HEADS TOGETHER , INVOLVES A CRITICAL POSITION , IS A VERY SHORT ONE, AND MAY APPEAR OF NO GREAT IMPORTANCE IN ITS PLACE, BUT IT SHOULD BE READ NOTWITHSTANDING, AS A SEQUEL TO THE LAST, AND A KEY TO ONE THAT WILL FOLLOW WHEN ITS TIME ARRIVES , LOOKS AFTER OLIVER, AND PROCEEDS WITH HIS ADVENTURES , MONKS AND MR. BROWNLOW AT LENGTH MEET. THEIR CONVERSATION, AND THE INTELLIGENCE THAT INTERRUPTS IT , NOAH CLAYPOLE IS EMPLOYED BY FAGIN ON A SECRET MISSION , OF THE HAPPY LIFE OLIVER BEGAN TO LEAD WITH HIS KIND FRIENDS , RELATES WHAT OLIVER'S NEW VISITORS THOUGHT OF HIM , STRANGE INTERVIEW, WHICH IS A SEQUEL TO THE LAST CHAPTER , THE APPOINTMENT KEPT , THE FLIGHT OF SIKES , THE PURSUIT AND ESCAPE , THE TIME ARRIVES FOR NANCY TO REDEEM HER PLEDGE TO ROSE MAYLIE. SHE FAILS. , WHEREIN IS SHOWN HOW THE ARTFUL DODGER GOT INTO TROUBLE , WHEREIN THE HAPPINESS OF OLIVER AND HIS FRIENDS, EXPERIENCES A SUDDEN CHECK