Synopses & Reviews
Dickens's second novel is a scalding indictment of child labor and the English Poor Laws, centering on the travails of an innocent child Orphaned at birth and abandoned to the hardships of the workhouse, Oliver Twist lives a grueling life of poverty. Desperate to escape his heartless tormenters, he runs away to start a better life in London but, once there, he is befriended by a young pickpocket known as the Artful Dodger, who introduces him to Fagin and his gang of thieves. A chance encounter gives Oliver the opportunity to escape the criminal underworld, but Fagin won't let him get away so easilyand just when everything seems hopeless, events take a most unexpected turn.
Synopsis
IDW is proud to introduce a new line of graphic novels that adapt some of the best-loved books of all time. The second book in the line is Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. Oliver Twist is the story of a young orphan who is subjected to ill-treatment in institutions in Victorian England. He falls into the clutches of the ghastly Fain and comes into contact with the seediest parts of London. The adventures of young Oliver are a story of fear, poverty, and the darkness of the human soul. Our young hero, caught between good and evil, has to survive amidst crime and a group of characters who are each worse than the other.
Synopsis
"This ain't the shop for justice."
—The Artful Dodger
Oliver is an orphan living on the dangerous London streets with no one but himself to rely on. Fleeing from poverty and hardship, he falls in with a criminal street gang who will not let him go, however hard he tries to escape. In Oliver Twist, Dickens graphically conjures up the capital's underworld, full of prostitutes, thieves and lost and homeless children, and gives a voice to the disadvantaged and abused.
About the Author
CHARLES DICKENS was born on February 7, 1812 in Landport in Portsmouth. His father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office who often ended up in financial trouble. When Dickens was twelve years' old he was sent to work in a shoe polish factory because his father had been imprisoned for debt. In 1833 he began to publish short stories and essays in newspapers and magazines. The Pickwick Papers, his first commercial success, was published in 1836, the same year that he married Catherine Hogarth. The serialisation of Oliver Twist began in 1837 while The Pickwick Papers was still running. Many other novels followed and Dickens became a celebrity in America as well as Britain. He also set up and edited the journals Household Words (1850-9) and All the Year Round (1859-70). Charles Dickens died on June 9, 1870 leaving his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.