Oliver Twist

US: Penguin Classics, 2003. Paperback. Good. A gripping portrayal of London's dark criminal underbelly, published in Pen guin Classics with an introduction by Philip Horne. The story of Oliver Twist - orphaned, and set upon by evil and adversity fr om 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 prostit ute Nancy, all watched over by cunning master-thief Fagin. Combining elemen ts of Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama, Dickens crea ted an entirely new kind of fiction, scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery. This Penguin Classics edition of Oliver Twist is the first critical edition to faithfully reproduce the text as its earliest readers would have encoun tered it from its serialisation in Bentley's Miscellany, and includes an in troduction by Philip Horne, a glossary of Victorian thieves' slang, a chron ology of Dickens's life, a map of contemporary London and all of George Cru ikshank's original illustrations. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date trans.