Oliver Twist
Written by Charles Dickens
Narrated by Mat Atkinson
()
About this audiobook
Oliver Twist, subtitled The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan, Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger, leader of a gang of juvenile pickpockets. Naïvely unaware of their unlawful activities, Oliver is led to the lair of their elderly criminal trainer Fagin.
Oliver Twist is notable for Dickens's unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives. The book exposed the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London during the Dickensian era. The book's subtitle, The Parish Boy's Progress, alludes to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress and also to a pair of popular 18th-century caricature series by William Hogarth, A Rake's Progress and A Harlot's Progress.
An early example of the social novel, the book calls the public's attention to various contemporary evils, including child labour, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. Dickens mocks the hypocrisies of his time by surrounding the novel's serious themes with sarcasm and dark humour. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of hardships as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's own early youth as a child labourer contributed to the story's development.
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and grew up in poverty. This experience influenced ‘Oliver Twist’, the second of his fourteen major novels, which first appeared in 1837. When he died in 1870, he was buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey as an indication of his huge popularity as a novelist, which endures to this day.
More audiobooks from Charles Dickens
A Vintage Christmas: A Collection of Classic Stories and Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Classic Christmas: A Collection of Timeless Stories and Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Christmas Classics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Christmas Carol Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Oliver Twist
Related audiobooks
Stalky & Co. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Postgate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Corsican Brothers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMemoirs of Sherlock Holmes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBarnaby Rudge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Transgression Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great Expectations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Leaf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Original Manuscript The Great Gatsby Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeart of Darkness and A Personal Record (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Eyes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Personal Record Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Trail of the Hawk: A Comedy of the Seriousness of Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaki: 'Music on the Hill', 'The Cobweb', 'The Interlopers', and 'The Hounds of Fate' Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Daughters of the Late Colonel (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Black Cat Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dream Woman Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Mark of the Beast Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Raven Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Book 1 (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ballad of Reading Gaol Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry the Fourth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeart of Darkness Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Happy Prince and Other Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Father And Children Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Expectations: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Journal of Julius Rodman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJane Eyre Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThrough the Looking Glass Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moby Dick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Classics For You
To Kill a Mockingbird Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frankenstein Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: A New Translation by Caroline Alexander Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gone With The Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Sherlock Holmes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fountainhead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Atlas Shrugged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pride and Prejudice: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Rose Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perks of Being a Wallflower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5War & Peace - Volume I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Prince: Machiavelli Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Gatsby Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Multi-Voice, A: The Bad Beginning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Thousand Ships: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master and Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pride and Prejudice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5CATCH-22 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For Whom the Bell Tolls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Crucible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/520,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Schindler's List Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stone Blind: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Oliver Twist
0 ratings0 reviews