Oliver Twist

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Steven Green

Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

"Oliver Twist" (1839) by Charles Dickens is a novel about an orphan boy, who starts his life in a workhouse and is then sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to London, where he meets the Artful Dodger, a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal, Fagin. Oliver Twist is notable for its unromantic portrayal by Dickens of criminals and their sordid lives, as well as for exposing the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London in the mid-19th century.

In this early example of the social novel, Dickens satirizes the hypocrisies of his time, including child labor, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of working as a child laborer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens’ own youthful experiences contributed as well.

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Oliver Twist

I have wanted to read this book since college more than 30 years ago. This book is Classic Dickens. It follows the life and trials of an orphan English lad. Dickens is very descriptive in all of the situations that poor Oliver encounters from being chosen to ask for additional food while in a home for orphan boys to the challenges that he faced while walking many, many miles while escaping the home for orphans on his way to London, While in London he fell among thieves and was actually shot while attempting a robbery along with other seasoned burglars. In the End, Oliver was taken in by some very fine people who were able to assist the authorities in capturing the band of thieves and breaking up their rein of terror. This is a very good book and I highly recommend reading it with professional narration.