Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist is Charles Dickens’s searing portrait of poverty, injustice, and the resilience of innocence in a corrupt world. The novel follows Oliver, a young orphan born in a workhouse, who escapes the cruelties of institutional life only to fall into the hands of a criminal underworld led by the sinister Fagin. As Oliver navigates the harsh realities of 19th-century London, he remains a symbol of unbroken virtue amid pervasive vice and exploitation.

Written with Dickens’s sharp social critique and vivid characterisation, Oliver Twist exposes the brutal conditions faced by the poor and challenges the hypocrisy of Victorian institutions. Through unforgettable figures like the menacing Bill Sikes, the tragic Nancy, and the ever-scheming Fagin, Dickens illuminates both the darkness of human cruelty and the enduring light of compassion. It is a powerful tale of survival and moral clarity in a society shaped by inequality.