Dickens’ exceptional second novel tells the story of orphan boy Oliver Twist, who escapes the misery of the workhouse only to fall in with a gang of London crooks, led by the legendary Fagin.
The literary masterpiece uses dark humour to shine a light on the real poverty blighting London life in the 19th century, as Dickens – himself once a child labourer – explains in the rare foreword to this Apostrophe Books edition.
“Apostrophe’s beautifully crafted ebook classics will please fans of old and new media alike.” – Dr Matthew Rubery, BA (Texas) PhD (Harvard), Reader in 19th-Century Literature.
“AMONG other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhouse; and in this workhouse was born; on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat, inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence to the reader, in this stage of the business at all events; the item of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this chapter.”