Oliver Twist

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

One of Charles Dickens' most popular novels, Oliver Twist is the story of a young orphan who dares to say, "Please, sir, I want some more". After escaping from the dark and dismal workhouse where he was born, Oliver finds himself on the mean streets of Victorian-era London and is unwittingly recruited into a scabrous gang of scheming urchins. In this band of petty thieves, Oliver encounters the extraordinary and vibrant characters who have captured audiences' imaginations for more than 150 years: the loathsome Fagin, the beautiful and tragic Nancy, the crafty Artful Dodger, and the terrifying Bill Sikes, perhaps one of the greatest villains of all time.

Rife with Dickens' disturbing descriptions of street life, the novel is buoyed by the purity of the orphan Oliver. Though he is treated with cruelty and surrounded by coarseness for most of his life, his pious innocence leads him at last to salvation - and the shocking discovery of his true identity.

Public Domain (P)2008 Tantor

THE STORY WAS AWESOME 🤩

I liked the way he got taken by the robbers and how he got away from them but I did not like how his friend dies

Shows why Dickens is MASTER of the social novel

It is hard to exit the original worlds created by Dickens. I usually manage it crying like a baby. Oliver Twist is top shelf storytelling. The characters are amazing. The setting is perfect. The plot manages to throw out hundreds of threads and ties them all together at the end, while never losing or boring the reader.

Weakness? This is probably nit picking, but the story seems to work out too well in the end. Don't get me wrong, I know this is a social novel and FICTION, but I guess I just have a little bit of an issue with the whole melodramatic end, with every shoe finding a foot and every evil getting a noose. Other than that, Dickens shows with 'Oliver Twist' why is/was the master and the giant of the social novel.

Simon Vance, as always, delivers a solid narration.

a good recording of a good story

I am an avid Dickens fan and enjoyed this recording.

A near perfect association

The narration of the incomparable Simon Vance of a work by the matchless Charles Dickens is an arrangement made as if by both, in concert, yet across a span of more than a century and a half. It is pure, transcendent magic.

Classic Dickens

A masterful performance truly engaging the listener as much or even more than a video performance!

Great book

Super narrator. Best book of all time? No. Excellent book? Yes. Charles dickens, well read.

Just Wonderful

A delightful story, marred only by another example of Dickens unfortunate antisemitism. The narration is superb.

a surprising book with more than one "Twist"

I liked all the different Brittish accents that the author was able to perform. the story took a while to get into, but pays off at the end

Amazing narration!

I had never read Oliver Twist and found it to be the most heartwrenching and loving story, both at the same time. What truly amazed me was the narrator, his skill in how he had such completely different voices for each character, it was like listening to a play, not just one person. I highly recommend this book to anyone, even if they have already read the book.

Thoroughly enjoyable!!!!

This is one of the most enjoyable, entertaining books of any genre I have read / heard! The author develops the most remarkable characters and story and the narrator is fabulous! I hated to have it end and will listen to it again to make sure that I haven't missed a word!!! Classic or not, it was thoroughly enjoyable!