"Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens is a novel published serially from 1837 to 1839. The story follows a young orphan who escapes a brutal workhouse and flees to London, where he falls into the hands of Fagin, a criminal mastermind who trains children as pickpockets. As Oliver navigates the dangerous underworld of thieves and discovers mysterious connections to his past, dark secrets threaten to keep him trapped in a life of crime. This pioneering social novel exposes the harsh realities of child labor and orphan treatment in 19th-century England.