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Oliver Twist

By Charles Dickens

Cover of Oliver Twist

Cover: Oliver asking for more (plate for Oliver Twist, 1838; later printing in The Writings of Charles Dickens, vol. 4) by George Cruikshank (1792-1878) · Wikimedia Commons (Houghton, Mifflin and Company edition) · Public domain

Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 and as a three-volume book in 1838. The story follows orphan Oliver Twist, who, after being raised in a workhouse, escapes to London, where he meets a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin, discovers the secrets of his parentage, and reconnects with his remaining family.

Summary source: Wikipedia: Oliver Twist · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Table of contents

  1. 1: Treats of the Place Where Oliver Twist Was Born and of the Circumstances Attending His Birth
  2. 2: Treats of Oliver Twist’s Growth, Education, and Board
  3. 3: Relates How Oliver Twist Was Very Near Getting a Place Which Would Not Have Been a Sinecure
  4. 4: Oliver, Being Offered Another Place, Makes His First Entry into Public Life
  5. 5: Oliver Mingles with New Associates. Going to a Funeral for the First Time, He Forms an Unfavourable Notion of His Master’s Business
  6. 6: Oliver, Being Goaded by the Taunts of Noah, Rouses into Action, and Rather Astonishes Him
  7. 7: Oliver Continues Refractory
  8. 8: Oliver Walks to London. He Encounters on the Road a Strange Sort of Young Gentleman
  9. 9: Containing Further Particulars Concerning the Pleasant Old Gentleman, and His Hopeful Pupils
  10. 10: Oliver Becomes Better Acquainted with the Characters of His New Associates; and Purchases Experience at a High Price. Being a Short, but Very Important Chapter, in This History
  11. 11: Treats of Mr. Fang the Police Magistrate; and Furnishes a Slight Specimen of His Mode of Administering Justice
  12. 12: In Which Oliver Is Taken Better Care of Than He Ever Was Before. and in Which the Narrative Reverts to the Merry Old Gentleman and His Youthful Friends
  13. 13: Some New Acquaintances Are Introduced to the Intelligent Reader, Connected with Whom Various Pleasant Matters Are Related, Appertaining to This History
  14. 14: Comprising Further Particulars of Oliver’s Stay at Mr. Brownlow’s, with the Remarkable Prediction Which One Mr. Grimwig Uttered Concerning Him, When He Went Out on an Errand
  15. 15: Showing How Very Fond of Oliver Twist, the Merry Old Jew and Miss Nancy Were
  16. 16: Relates What Became of Oliver Twist, After He Had Been Claimed by Nancy
  17. 17: Oliver’s Destiny Continuing Unpropitious, Brings a Great Man to London to Injure His Reputation
  18. 18: How Oliver Passed His Time in the Improving Society of His Reputable Friends
  19. 19: In Which a Notable Plan Is Discussed and Determined on
  20. 20: Wherein Oliver Is Delivered Over to Mr. William Sikes
  21. 21: The Expedition
  22. 22: The Burglary
  23. 23: Which Contains the Substance of a Pleasant Conversation Between Mr. Bumble and a Lady; and Shows That Even a Beadle May Be Susceptible on Some Points
  24. 24: Treats on a Very Poor Subject, but Is a Short One, and May Be Found of Importance in This History
  25. 25: Wherein This History Reverts to Mr. Fagin and Company
  26. 26: In Which a Mysterious Character Appears upon the Scene; and Many Things, Inseparable from This History, Are Done and Performed
  27. 27: Atones for the Unpoliteness of a Former Chapter; Which Deserted a Lady, Most Unceremoniously
  28. 28: Looks After Oliver, and Proceeds with His Adventures
  29. 29: Has an Introductory Account of the Inmates of the House, to Which Oliver Resorted
  30. 30: Relates What Oliver’s New Visitors Thought of Him
  31. 31: Involves a Critical Position
  32. 32: Of the Happy Life Oliver Began to Lead with His Kind Friends
  33. 33: Wherein the Happiness of Oliver and His Friends, Experiences a Sudden Check
  34. 34: Contains Some Introductory Particulars Relative to a Young Gentleman Who Now Arrives upon the Scene; and a New Adventure Which Happened to Oliver
  35. 35: Containing the Unsatisfactory Result of Oliver’s Adventure; and a Conversation of Some Importance Between Harry Maylie and Rose
  36. 36: Chapter 36
  37. 37: In Which the Reader May Perceive a Contrast, Not Uncommon in Matrimonial Cases
  38. 38: Containing an Account of What Passed Between Mr. and Mrs. Bumble, and Mr. Monks, at Their Nocturnal Interview
  39. 39: Introduces Some Respectable Characters with Whom the Reader Is Already Acquainted, and Shows How Monks and the Jew Laid Their Worthy Heads Together
  40. 40: A Strange Interview, Which Is a Sequel to the Last Chamber
  41. 41: Containing Fresh Discoveries, and Showing That Suprises, Like Misfortunes, Seldom Come Alone
  42. 42: An Old Acquaintance of Oliver’s, Exhibiting Decided Marks of Genius, Becomes a Public Character in the Metropolis
  43. 43: Wherein Is Shown How the Artful Dodger Got into Trouble
  44. 44: The Time Arrives for Nancy to Redeem Her Pledge to Rose Maylie. She Fails
  45. 45: Noah Claypole Is Employed by Fagin on a Secret Mission
  46. 46: The Appointment Kept
  47. 47: Fatal Consequences
  48. 48: The Flight of Sikes
  49. 49: Monks and Mr. Brownlow at Length Meet. Their Conversation, and the Intelligence That Interrupts It
  50. 50: The Pursuit and Escape
  51. 51: Affording an Explanation of More Mysteries Than One, and Comprehending a Proposal of Marriage with No Word of Settlement or Pin-Money
  52. 52: Fagin’s Last Night Alive
  53. 53: And Last