The adventures of Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist is orphaned at birth, and he is sent to live in a workhouse as a child where he is starved, both for food and for love. The boys in the workhouse draw lots to protest, and it is Oliver who famously dares to stand up to those who run the workhouse and ask for more. Deemed a troublemaker, the result is that Oliver is farmed out, for money, to an apprenticeship where, once again, the boy is starved and is put to work doing dangerous things grown men refuse to do. Oliver can think of nothing to do but escape to live on the streets where he is recruited for a gang of pickpockets. It is only after Oliver is falsely accused of pickpocketing that his life takes a serendipitous and sharp turn toward healing.

Oliver Twist was my spin choice in February for The Classics Club. If I had to sum up the book in a few words, I would say that it is almost unremittingly grim. Reading this book explains, for me, why people can become filled with hatred and cruelty, and that's what I would have expected of Oliver Twist. Somehow, though, the boy kept his kind and generous nature through his exceptionally miserable childhood ordeals.