One of Dickens' most popular works is a darkly satiric indictment of the social ills of Victorian London as it tells the story of a young orphan who becomes involved with a gang of criminals.
A workhouse orphan, Oliver experiences the terror and brutality of the criminal underworld. His companions, a thief, a whore, a pickpocket, and a fence, are destined for gruesome ends, but Oliver emerges unscathed from the darkness of the underworld.