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

10 Star Reader

If I could give the narrator 10 stars instead if 5, I would. Simon Vance makes the sort easier to understand!

Excellent Narration

Simon Vance does a brilliant job of narrating this complex and dark story. The novels of Charles Dickens are classics for a reason—they are well-crafted and detail a period of Victorian life when change was afoot and the teeming city of London was on the move from a haven for those in desperate circumstances to a wealthy world capital. In the end, redemption proves possible, but only for a very few.

Wish I read this sooner. Great story!

Read or rather listened to this much later in life...should have read this ad a kid or in college. Great book!

Great Narration!

Great story, excellently narrated! The narrator has a crisp, clean voice and perfect pacing. the story is exciting throughout.

Simon Vance performs Oliver Twist

I can’t overstate my pleasure at listening to Simon Vance performing Oliver Twist. The voices and accents of the characters are spot on and how he keeps each straight in his mind amazed me. I recommend this audiobook to anyone who wishes to experience this classic. I found it thoroughly enjoyable.

Typically sentimental

I love Simon Vance but, he may not be the best choice to read dickens. He brings his own sentimentality to everything he reads. Still a very nice story.

Classic

Classic a must listen, enjoy Dickens but damn so sad and heart breaking at times

Love

I love this book so much. This book made me rethink my life and my perspective of life.

Classic Dickens!

We enjoyed Oliver Twist. The reader was lively & well done in his voices of the characters.

Dickens + Simon Vance = Divine

Oliver Twist is the second novel by Dickens. He was a writer with a huge social conscience, and has a great deal to say with this book. It is as though Dickens has written his heart directly onto the pages. While I find some of it melodramatic and overwritten, the minutely-drawn characters, plot, writing and feeling are more than worth a few wordy passages. It's a deeply affecting story.

Simon Vance, as usual, inhabits the characters and simply becomes the book. He has a tough line to walk here; the book is an intense plea from the heart, and the narrator could easily overdo it. Vance voices not only the characters but Dickens himself, and his tone is perfect. Slight quibble: I didn't like his voicing of Rose, but that's the only negative I can come up with. It's a marvelous performance of a wonderful book.