Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

arts, books, fiction, society, culture · EN

Born in a workhouse and orphaned within minutes of his first breath, Oliver Twist commits the unforgivable sin of asking for more. Cast out and sold off, he escapes to London — only to fall into the clutches of Fagin, master of a den of child pickpockets, the brutal housebreaker Bill Sikes, and the cunning Artful Dodger. As Oliver is dragged deeper into the criminal underworld, forces he cannot see battle over his fate: some to save him, others to bury the secret of who he really is. By turns savage satire, gripping crime thriller, and heartbreaking portrait of innocence adrift in a merciless city, Dickens's second novel gave the world Fagin, Nancy, and Sikes — and remains one of the most vivid indictments of cruelty toward the poor ever written. A masterpiece of Victorian fiction that still asks: who deserves mercy, and who decides? Thanks for listening! Want more content like this? Support our project on Patreon: