Oliver Twist (World Classics Unabridged)

The story of Oliver Twist - orphaned and set upon by evil and adversity from his first breath - shocked readers when it was published. After running away from the workhouse and pompous beadle Mr Bumble Oliver finds himself lured into a den of thieves peopled by vivid and memorable characters - the Artful Dodger vicious burglar Bill Sikes his dog Bull's Eye and prostitute Nancy all watched over by cunning master-thief Fagin. Combining elements of Gothic Romance the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama Dickens created an entirely new kind of fiction scathing in its indictment of a cruel society and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery.