{"product_id":"oliver-twist-introduction-by-michael-slater-hardcover","title":"Oliver Twist: Introduction by Michael Slater - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eCharles Dickens\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eMichael Slater\u003c\/b\u003e (Introduction by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOliver is an orphan living on the dangerous London streets with no one but himself to rely on. Fleeing from poverty and hardship, he falls in with a criminal street gang who will not let him go, however hard he tries to escape. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne of the most swiftly moving and unified of Charles Dickens's great novels, \u003ci\u003eOliver Twist\u003c\/i\u003e is also famous for its re-creation-through the splendidly realized figures of Fagin, Nancy, the Artful Dodger, and the evil Bill Sikes-of the vast London underworld of pickpockets, thieves, prostitutes, and abandoned children. Victorian critics took Dickens to task for rendering this world in such a compelling, believable way, but readers over the last 150 years have delivered an alternative judgment by making this story of the orphaned Oliver Twist one of its author's most loved works. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis edition reprints the original Everyman's introduction by G. K. Chesterton and includes twenty-four illustrations by George Cruikshank.\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne of the most swiftly moving and unified of Charles Dickens' great novels, Oliver Twist is also famous for its recreation through the splendidly realized figures of Fagin, Nancy, the Artful Dodger, and the evil Bill Sikes--of the vast London under--world of pickpockets, thieves, prostitutes, and abandoned children.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eCharles Dickens was born in a little house in Landport, Portsea, England, on February 7, 1812. The second of eight children, he grew up in a family frequently beset by financial insecurity. At age eleven, Dickens was taken out of school and sent to work in London backing warehouse, where his job was to paste labels on bottles for six shillings a week. His father John Dickens, was a warmhearted but improvident man. When he was condemned the Marshela Prison for unpaid debts, he unwisely agreed that Charles should stay in lodgings and continue working while the rest of the family joined him in jail. This three-month separation caused Charles much pain; his experiences as a child alone in a huge city-cold, isolated with barely enough to eat-haunted him for the rest of his life. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen the family fortunes improved, Charles went back to school, after which he became an office boy, a freelance reporter and finally an author. With \u003ci\u003ePickwick Papers\u003c\/i\u003e (1836-7) he achieved immediate fame; in a few years he was easily the post popular and respected writer of his time. It has been estimated that one out of every ten persons in Victorian England was a Dickens reader. \u003ci\u003eOliver Twist \u003c\/i\u003e(1837), \u003ci\u003eNicholas Nickleby \u003c\/i\u003e(1838-9) and \u003ci\u003eThe Old Curiosity Shop \u003c\/i\u003e(1840-41) were huge successes. \u003ci\u003eMartin Chuzzlewit \u003c\/i\u003e(1843-4) was less so, but Dickens followed it with his unforgettable, \u003ci\u003eA Christmas Carol \u003c\/i\u003e(1843), \u003ci\u003eBleak House \u003c\/i\u003e(1852-3), \u003ci\u003eHard Times\u003c\/i\u003e (1854) and\u003ci\u003e Little Dorrit \u003c\/i\u003e(1855-7)\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ereveal his deepening concern for the injustices of British Society. \u003ci\u003eA Tale of Two Cities \u003c\/i\u003e(1859), \u003ci\u003eGreat Expectations\u003c\/i\u003e (1860-1) and \u003ci\u003eOur Mutual Friend \u003c\/i\u003e(1864-5) complete his major works. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDickens's marriage to Catherine Hoggarth produced ten children but ended in separation in 1858. In that year he began a series of exhausting public readings; his health gradually declined. After putting in a full day's work at his home at Gads Hill, Kent on June 8, 1870, Dickens suffered a stroke, and he died the following day.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 528\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.23 x 8.33 x 5.23 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 03, 1992\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51756914409760,"sku":"9780679417248","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/b8462e3dcadfed16b1bf87b585f52575.webp?v=1780089090","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/oliver-twist-introduction-by-michael-slater-hardcover","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}