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Oliver Twist

by Charles Dickens

Oliver is born in a workhouse and orphaned at birth.

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Original language: EnglishLevel: Advanced3,389 characters · ≈ 5 minSource: Project Gutenberg

Opening lines

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.

For a long time after it was ushered into this world of sorrow and trouble, by the parish surgeon, it remained a matter of considerable doubt whether the child would survive…

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About the book

Oliver Twist is the second novel by Charles Dickens, originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839. It follows orphan Oliver Twist, who escapes a workhouse for London, falls in with a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin, and gradually uncovers the secrets of his parentage. The novel unromantically portrays criminals' sordid lives and exposes the cruel treatment of orphans in England, standing as an early example of the social novel.

About the author

Charles Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and journalist, regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers, and he went on to write 15 novels and 5 novellas.

Summary prepared with AI from Wikipedia: Oliver Twist (CC BY-SA)

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