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Oliver Twist Kindle Edition
Oliver Twist is the classic story by Charles Dickens of a young and vulnerable orphan born into Victorian London’s miserable workhouses – homes for the poor and disadvantaged.
Episode List
This book was initially released in episodes as a Kindle Serial. All episodes are now available for immediate download as a complete book. Learn more about Kindle Serials
Episode 1: 20 pages. Chapters 1 and 2, original release: February 1837.
Episode 2: 22 pages. Chapters 3 and 4, original release: March 1837.
Episode 3: 23 pages. Chapters 5 and 6, original release: April 1837.
Episode 4: 22 pages. Chapters 7 and 8, original release: May 1837.
Episode 5: 27 pages. Chapters 9 - 11, original release: July 1837.
Episode 6: 25 pages. Chapters 12 and 13, original release: August 1837.
Episode 7: 25 pages. Chapters 14 and 15, original release: September 1837.
Episode 8: 27 pages. Chapters 16 and 17, original release: November 1837.
Episode 9: 25 pages. Chapters 18 and 19, original release: December 1837.
Episode 10: 30 pages. Chapters 20 - 22, original release: January 1838.
Episode 11: 28 pages. Chapters 23 - 25, original release: February 1838.
Episode 12: 28 pages. Chapters 26 and 27, original release: March 1838.
Episode 13: 28 pages. Chapters 28 - 30, original release: April 1838.
Episode 14: 29 pages. Chapters 31 & 32, original release: May 1838.
Episode 15: 28 pages. Chapters 33 & 34, original release: June 1838.
Episode 16: 29 pages. Chapters 35 - 37, original release: July 1838.
Episode 17: 29 pages. Chapters 38 & part of 39, original release: August 1838.
Episode 18: 31 pages. End of chapter 39 - 41, original release: October 1838.
Episode 19: 30 pages. Chapters 42 & 43, original release: November 1838.
Episode 20: 29 pages. Chapters 44 - 46, original release: December 1838.
Episode 21: 38 pages. Chapters 47 - 49, original release: January 1839.
Episode 22: 17 pages. Chapter 50, original release: February 1839.
Episode 23: 19 pages. Chapter 51, original release: March 1839.
Episode 24: 19 pages. Chapters 52 & 53, original release: April 1839.
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- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAmazon Publishing
- Publication dateSeptember 6, 2012
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From the Inside Flap
From the Back Cover
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Treats of the place where Oliver Twist was Born; and of the Circumstances attending his Birth.
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 to bear any name at all; in which case it is somewhat more than probable that these memoirs would never have appeared; or, if they had, that being comprised within a couple of pages, they would have possessed the inestimable merit of being the most concise and faithful specimen of biography, extant in the literature of any age or country.
Although I am not disposed to maintain that the being born in a workhouse, is in itself the most fortunate and enviable circumstance that can possibly befal a human being, I do mean to say that in this particular instance, it was the best thing for Oliver Twist that could by possibility have occurred. The fact is, that there was considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office of respiration,-a troublesome practice, but one which custom has rendered necessary to our easy existence; and for some time he lay gasping on a little flock mattress, rather unequally poised between this world and the next: the balance being decidedly in favour of the latter. Now, if, during this brief period, Oliver had been surrounded by careful grandmothers, anxious aunts, experienced nurses, and doctors of profound wisdom, he would most inevitably and indubitably have been killed in no time. There being nobody by, however, but a pauper old woman, who was rendered rather misty by an unwonted allowance of beer; and a parish surgeon who did such matters by contract; Oliver and Nature fought out the point between them. The result was, that, after a few struggles, Oliver breathed, sneezed, and proceeded to advertise to the inmates of the workhouse the fact of a new burden having been imposed upon the parish, by setting up as loud a cry as could reasonably have been expected from a male infant who had not been possessed of that very useful appendage, a voice, for a much longer space of time than three minutes and a quarter.
As Oliver gave this first proof of the free and proper action of his lungs, the patchwork coverlet which was carelessly flung over the iron bedstead, rustled; the pale face of a young woman was raised feebly from the pillow; and a faint voice imperfectly articulated the words, "Let me see the child, and die."
The surgeon had been sitting with his face turned towards the fire: giving the palms of his hands, a warm and a rub alternately. As the young woman spoke, he rose, and advancing to the bed's head, said, with more kindness than might have been expected of him:
"Oh, you must not talk about dying yet."
"Lor bless her dear heart, no!" interposed the nurse, hastily depositing in her pocket a green glass bottle, the contents of which she had been tasting in a corner with evident satisfaction. "Lor bless her dear heart, when she has lived as long as I have, sir, and had thirteen children of her own, and all on 'em dead except two, and them in the wurkus with me, she'll know better than to take on in that way, bless her dear heart! Think what it is to be a mother, there's a dear young lamb, do."
Apparently this consolatory perspective of a mother's prospects, failed in producing its due effect. The patient shook her head, and stretched out her hand towards the child.
The surgeon deposited it in her arms. She imprinted her cold white lips passionately on its forehead; passed her hands over her face; gazed wildly round; shuddered; fell back-and died. They chafed her breast, hands, and temples; but the blood had stopped for ever. They talked of hope and comfort. They had been strangers too long.
"It's all over, Mrs. Thingummy!" said the surgeon at last.
"Ah, poor dear, so it is!" said the nurse, picking up the cork of the green bottle which had fallen out on the pillow as she stooped to take up the child. "Poor dear!"
"You needn't mind sending up to me, if the child cries, nurse," said the surgeon, putting on his gloves with great deliberation. "It's very likely it will be troublesome. Give it a little gruel7 if it is." He put on his hat, and, pausing by the bed-side on his way to the door, added "She was a good-looking girl, too; where did she come from?"
"She was brought here last night," replied the old woman, "by the overseer's order. She was found lying in the street. She had walked some distance, for her shoes were worn to pieces; but where she came from, or where she was going to, nobody knows."
Product details
- ASIN : B00916521Q
- Publisher : Amazon Publishing (September 6, 2012)
- Publication date : September 6, 2012
- Language : English
- File size : 13875 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 292 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,308 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Charles Dickens was born in 1812 near Portsmouth where his father was a clerk in the navy pay office. The family moved to London in 1823, but their fortunes were severely impaired. Dickens was sent to work in a blacking-warehouse when his father was imprisoned for debt. Both experiences deeply affected the future novelist. In 1833 he began contributing stories to newspapers and magazines, and in 1836 started the serial publication of Pickwick Papers. Thereafter, Dickens published his major novels over the course of the next twenty years, from Nicholas Nickleby to Little Dorrit. He also edited the journals Household Words and All the Year Round. Dickens died in June 1870.
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
Mary Sebag-Montefiore is a best-selling children's author, whose re-tellings of classics have been published all over the world. She is the author of over 25 books and has adapted everything from Dickens to 'War and Peace'. She has also published articles on children's books academically and in the national press, and for adults, is the author of 'Women Writers of Children's Classics'. Her most recent title is 'Forgotten Fairy Tales of Kindness and Courage', published by Usborne Publishing.
“Mary Sebag-Montefiore’s retellings…are perhaps the best – well-written and dramatic”
The Telegraph
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Oliver Twist is a MUST READ for anyone who loves the great classics or for anyone who simply wants to find out why the classics keep getting published. RicardoSilverburnChildren'sAuthor.
Warning: SPOILERS!!!!
The story is one of a poor orphan boy, sold to an undertaker and abused until he runs away to London. He falls in with thieves and through a strange twist of fate is rescued by the man who was his father's best friend. It's a long story, filled with reversals of fortune and amazing coincidences, and although it has a happy ending, there is some genuine tragedy. It's a very sad scene when Oliver returns to the orphanage to get his best friend, Dick, who saw him off on his journey to London, only to find that Dick has died of untreated sickness. The prostitute, Nancy, has all the attributes of a character in a Greek tragedy-you desperately want her to leave the streets and her brutal boyfriend, Bill Sikes, and when she refuses to go, you have a sinking feeling that she isn't going to last much longer. When he beats her to death in their little room, it's a gruesome scene, but not a surprising one. The only relief from Fagin's gang comes from Charley, who reforms and leaves London to become a grazier.
A word about Fagin-some might find the constant description of him as "the Jew" offensive. It is not meant as a pejorative, but rather as a handy label to define the arch-criminal. While it is true that Fagin is constantly described as a Jew and is one of the most repulsive Jewish characters in literature, it was not Dickens' intent to cast slurs upon Jewish people. He wrote in good faith and was troubled later, after becoming friends with Eliza Davis, the wife of the Jewish banker he sold his London house to, by the way he had portrayed Fagin. Eliza wrote to him in 1863 that she considered the way Dickens had portrayed Fagin a great wrong to the Jewish people. Dickens started to revise Oliver Twist, removing over 180 instances of the word "Jew" from the first edition text. He also ommitted sterotypical caricature from his public readings of Oliver Twist and a contemporary report noted, "There is no nasal intonation; a bent back but no shoulder-shrug: the conventional attributes are omitted." Dickens was finally able to write to Eliza, "There is nothing but good will left between me and a People for whom I have a real regard and to whom I would not willfully have given an offence." Fagin might still give offense to those looking for it, but personally I have always seen him as an example of a bad man, not a Jewish man, and I believe that is how Dickens meant to portray him.
In terms of content, Oliver Twist is one of Dickens' most accessible novels. Hard Times and The Pickwick Papers might be weightier tomes and A Christmas Carol might be a better start for younger readers, but Oliver Twist is simply classic. On the surface engaging story with vivid characters that draws you in to the streets of London, Dickens uses his plucky little hero to paint a lurid portrait of the underbelly of society and the abject misery of living in poverty. By following Oliver through his meager workhouse existence and onward to life as a street urchin and budding criminal, we can see through the author's eyes his take on the cruel truths of child labor and the pitiful lives of the unwanted.
If my admittedly dry assessment of the underlying theme depresses you, please do realize that the Dickensian dark humor and wit are very much at play in this novel. He gets his points across with sometimes heavy-handed sarcasm and characters that may seem more like caricatures in their absurdity. Oliver Twist remains an entertaining read, one that lends itself easily to popular culture and a number of film adaptations.
Oliver Twist, obviously a well-known title, needs little introduction. But what is striking is how Dickens’ tale is several things at once. It has a fairy tale quality to it, with some dark elements thrown in as well (i.e., there is a pretty brutal murder scene and another bizarre death scene). It is also a “rags to riches” sort of tale (with “rich” not being necessarily in the monetary form). Likewise, It is also a coming-of-age children’s novel with Dickens’ sentimentality. Moreover, the novel also forms a social commentary and criticism about the conditions taking place in Dickens’ time.
Upon my second reading, I thought it was a very entertaining and enchanting story, something Dickens seems to always pull off. Dickens captures eloquently the spirit of a young orphan boy who tries to overcome the many setbacks, heartbreaks, harsh elements, and trials that are thrown at him in his young life. Through the story’s narrative, Oliver meets many types of people, friends and foes, virtuous and malevolent, and must navigate his way in the world.
Oliver Twist has many of the Dickens’ staples that make a worthy and heartfelt tale and a classic. One of the definitive characters I love about reading a Dickens novel is the cliffhanger type endings in chapters, revealing something interesting at the end of the chapter to pique the reader’s anticipation of what is to come. As per usual with Dickens, there are a bevy of eccentric and interesting characters (some infamously so).
It’s not surprising that the popularity of this novel has spawned countless adaptations in various forms, from film, stage plays, musicals, etc. Definitely a novel for Dickens or classic literature aficionados to read.