Readers waited avidly for the next episode in the story, which partly accounts for the fact that each chapter ends with a ‘cliffhanger’ to hold the reader’s interest until the following month. It was published in serial form in monthly instalments in the magazine Bentley’s Miscellany, from February 1837 to April 1839. For such an early work it is a remarkably accomplished and sophisticated novel. Oliver Twist or the Parish Boy’s Progress was Charles Dickens’ second novel, written when he was only twenty-five. ‘He was badged and ticketed, and fell into place at once – a parish child – the orphan of the workhouse – the humble, half-starved drudge- to be cuffed and buffeted through the world- despised by all, and pitied by none.’ Oliver Twist David Stuart Davies looks at one of Dickens’ most popular novels
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