Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Oliver is an orphan who lives until the age of nine in a poor house, where he is hungry and abused by the headmaster, Mr. Bumble. The classic scene in which the half-starved Oliver asks for a little more food and is viciously negated by the obese Mr. Bumble illustrates the iniquity of Victorian society.
Oliver is then sent to work at a funeral home. Here too, he is treated very badly. One day, Oliver escapes and flees to London, where he becomes involved in a gang of thieves and pickpockets led by Fagin, a satanic character and corrupting young boys.
Oliver now begins an underground and nocturnal life with his companions: Fagin, the Artful Dodger, Claypole, and especially Nancy, who is a thief and a prostitute but basically a good person who has been led astray by Fagin and her lover, the violent Bill. Sikes. Nancy, affectionately known to the Fagin boys as "Nance" and Bill Sykes were both old Fagin students. Oliver is also under the influence of the mysterious Monks, another thief, who has an unknown connection to Oliver. It is later revealed that Monks paid Fagin to keep Oliver in his clutches and turn him into a thief, as part of Monks' secret plan to destroy him.
One day, the gang robs Mr. Brownlow, and Oliver uses the opportunity to flee the group and is taken in by Mr. Brownlow. However, he is then picked up by the band of thieves and persuaded to work as a thief by the mysterious and disturbing monks. But Oliver's first mission goes badly: he is sent to rob the house of Mrs. Maylie and her adopted granddaughter, Rose, but is injured during the mission. Oliver is treated by Mrs. Maylie and Rose who show compassion to the petty thief.
Fagin, with help from Monks, tries to get Oliver back but is thwarted. Fagin's gang is demolished by the police and Fagin is arrested. Sikes kills Nancy in a moment of anger over his betrayal of the gang but is himself killed while trying to escape.
Oliver's true origins are finally discovered. Mr. Brownlow turns out to be an old friend of Oliver's father, and Monks is actually Oliver's half-brother. Rose is actually Oliver's aunt and his late mother's sister.
Always charitable, Oliver agrees to give his inheritance to the monks so that he can start over. The monks go to America but soon waste his money and return to a life of crime. Oliver also shows compassion to Fagin and goes to see him in prison on the eve of his execution.
All ends well: Oliver is adopted by Mr. Brownlow. Claypole and the Artful Dodger quit their life of crime; Claypole becomes a respectable farmer, and the Artful Dodger goes to work as a police informant.
