Oliver Twist

Charles Dickens · 1812–1870 · England

Why it matters

An orphan born in a workhouse falls in with a den of child pickpockets run by the sinister Fagin. Dickens's first full novel turned an exposé of the Poor Law and London's criminal underworld into serialized sensation, launching his lifelong campaign against institutional cruelty.

At a glance

Melodramatic plotting and thick London slang, but a shorter, more linear read than his later novels.