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Charles Dickens tells the story of the orphan boy Oliver Twist in this classic tale of hardship and poverty involving a medley of colourful and vibrant characters, some of the greatest fictional characters ever created since its publication. This is an abridged retelling of the original, written using simple language for children learning English. Summary of the Book Oliver Twist’s life seemed fated to court misfortune. Almost immediately orphaned at birth, he’s cast into the Government’s baby farm under the terms of the Poor Law. Once he is nine years old, he’s sent to the main workhouse to earn his keep by picking and weaving oakum. After an unfortunate turn of events, he is put up for apprenticeship and thus meets an undertaker who decides to take the boy in. However, the man’s wife detests Oliver and he is forced to run away. Little does he know that the grand old city of London holds the key to his identity and future. For it is there that he will run into two of the most famous characters in all of literature: the every handy Artful Dodger and the infamous Fagin, the mastermind behind the army of pickpockets that plagues the city. About Charles Dickens Charles Dickens was an English novelist, short story writer and social critic. He is best remembered for his prolific writing, and especially the novels: David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol and The Pickwick Papers. Considered the literary juggernaut of his age, Dickens constantly portrayed the poor and orphaned in his novels and stories, and touched upon the poor living situations which were rampant in those days.