No library's complete without the classics! This new edition collects the greatest works of Charles Dickens, one of the most popular novelists of all time. Oliver Twist. Pip. The ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. The characters of Charles Dickens live on in our imaginations long after we've read his renowned works of social commentary and vivid storytelling. And though these novels were written more than one hundred years ago, no home library today would be complete without them. This Canterbury Classics edition of Charles Dickens collects some of his most famous and beloved works--The Adventures of Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations--into a single volume. For those who've never read Dickens, it's the perfect opportunity to experience his unique and compelling writing. And for those who are already Dickens devotees, an introduction by a renowned scholar will provide additional context and food for thought.

Oliver Twist is a story of a young orphan, Oliver, and his attempts to stay good in a depraved society. The book exposes the miseries of poverty and its degrading effects through society. Oliver embodies innocence and incorruptibility. He was born and raised in a workhouse, then forced to live with a group of petty criminals and finally was adopted by a generous old man to live with him happily. He faces many obstacles and lives through many horrors throughout the novel. The cruelty of institutions and bureaucracies towards the unfortunate is perhaps the pre-eminent theme of the book, and essentially what makes it a social novel. Like a true Dickensian narrative, the dichotomy between Good and Evil are very clearly marked out. The story with many twists and turns keeps the reader engaged and imparts hope that benevolence can overcome and depravity.

The story of Oliver Twist - orphaned, and set upon by evil and adversity from his first breath - shocked readers when it was published. After running away from the workhouse and pompous beadle Mr Bumble, Oliver finds himself lured into a den of thieves peopled by vivid and memorable characters - the Artful Dodger, vicious burglar Bill Sikes, his dog Bull's Eye, and prostitute Nancy, all watched over by cunning master-thief Fagin. Combining elements of Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama, Dickens created an entirely new kind of fiction, scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery.

From a parish workhouse to the heart of the industrial revolution, from debtors' jail to Cambridge University and a prestigious London church, Robert Blincoe's political, personal and turbulent story illuminates the Dickensian age like never before. In 1792 as revolution, riot and sedition spread across Europe, Robert Blincoe was born in the calm of rural St Pancras parish. At four he was abandoned to a workhouse, never to see his family again. At seven, he was sent 200 miles north to work in one of the cotton mills of the dawning industrial age. He suffered years of unrelenting abuse, a life dictated by the inhuman rhythm of machines. Like Dickens' most famous character, Blincoe rebelled after years of servitude. He fought back against the mill owners, earning beatings but gaining self-respect. He joined the campaign to protect children, gave evidence to a Royal Commission into factory conditions and worked with extraordinary tenacity to keep his own children from the factories. His life was immortalised in one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, A Memoir of Robert Blincoe. Renowned popular historian John Waller tells the true story of a parish boy's progress with passion and in enthralling detail.

Olivia Twist is an innovative reimagining of Charles Dickens' classic tale Oliver Twist, in which Olivia was forced to live as a boy for her own safety until she was rescued from the streets. Now eighteen, Olivia finds herself at a crossroads: revealed secrets threaten to destroy the "proper" life she has built for herself, while newfound feelings for an arrogant young man she shouldn't like could derail her carefully laid plans for the future. Olivia Brownlow is no damsel in distress. Born in a workhouse and raised as a boy among thieving London street gangs, she is as tough and cunning as they come. When she is taken in by her uncle after a caper gone wrong, her life goes from fighting and stealing on the streets to lavish dinners and soirees as a debutante in high society. But she can’t seem to escape her past … or forget the teeming slums where children just like her still scrabble to survive. Jack MacCarron rose from his place in London's East End to become the adopted "nephew" of a society matron. Little does society know that MacCarron is a false name for a boy once known among London gangs as the Artful Dodger, and that he and his “aunt” are robbing them blind every chance they get. When Jack encounters Olivia Brownlow in places he least expects, his curiosity is piqued. Why is a society girl helping a bunch of homeless orphan thieves? Even more intriguing, why does she remind him so much of someone he once knew? Jack finds himself wondering if going legit and risking it all might be worth it for love.

At the heart of Charles Dickens's second novel, first published in 1838, is a story as much about crime and poverty as it is about justice and charity. Orphaned at birth, Oliver Twist grows up under the loveless, relentless watch of a workhouse. He runs away with hopes for a better life in London, only to become--at the hands of the unforgettable Artful Dodger--a guileless pawn in a gang of pickpockets and robbers working for Fagin, one of Dickens's most controversial villains. Full of ingenious plot twists, at turns thrilling, tragic, tender, and sharp-eyed, The Adventures of Oliver Twist is among Dickens's most enduring classics. This is a free digital copy of a book that has been carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online. To make this print edition available as an ebook, we have extracted the text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology and submitted it to a review process to ensure its accuracy and legibility across different screen sizes and devices. Google is proud to partner with libraries to make this book available to readers everywhere.