Oliver Twist

“Please, sir, I want some more.”

With those seven words, a small, starving orphan in a workhouse changed literature forever. Charles Dickens's second novel is a savage indictment of poverty, a thrilling crime story, and the book that introduced the world to some of fiction's most unforgettable villains.

Oliver Twist is born in a workhouse to a mother who dies just after his birth. He spends his first nine years in miserable servitude, half-starved and beaten, until the infamous bowl of gruel leads to his request for more—and his expulsion into the wider world. He falls in with a gang of child thieves led by the elderly criminal Fagin, trained by the brutal Bill Sikes, and befriended by the kind-hearted prostitute Nancy. Through London's darkest alleys, Oliver searches for safety, family, and a place to belong. But the shadow of his unknown parentage follows him—and so does a mysterious figure named Monks, who will stop at nothing to see Oliver destroyed.

This is Dickens at his most indignant and melodramatic: a novel about the cruelty of the Poor Law, the corruption of the city, and the stubborn innocence of a boy who refuses to become what the world expects. Oliver Twist was the first major English novel to feature a child protagonist—and it remains one of the most influential social novels ever written.

• One of Dickens's most famous and frequently adapted works, including the Oscar-winning film Oliver!

• Introduced iconic characters: Fagin, the Artful Dodger, Bill Sikes, and Nancy

• A direct attack on the 1834 Poor Law, which treated the poor as criminals and orphans as expendable

Available in multiple formats:

• Paperback & Hardcover: Beautifully designed print editions presenting the complete, unabridged text made to last.

• Ebook: DRM-free EPUB compatible with Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, and all major e-readers.

• Audiobook: Professionally narrated, complete and unabridged, available on all major audiobook platforms.

A beautifully crafted edition for your shelf, your device, or your ears—or the perfect gift for anyone who believes that even the smallest voice can ask for more.

About the Author

Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was an English novelist, journalist, and social critic, widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. Born in Portsmouth, he endured a childhood of poverty and forced labor in a blacking factory after his father was imprisoned for debt—experiences that shaped his lifelong commitment to social reform. Oliver Twist was published serially from 1837 to 1839, while Dickens was still in his twenties. It was the first novel in English to feature a child as its protagonist and one of the first to portray the gritty realities of London's criminal underworld. His other major works include David Copperfield (1850), Bleak House (1853), Hard Times (1854), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), and Great Expectations (1861). Dickens died of a stroke in 1870 and is buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.