- Thanks to its colorful cast of characters and gritty portrayal of street life in Victorian London, Dickens" Oliver Twist has captured readers" hearts for more than 150 years. Today"s children will love it too. Oliver, a poor orphan, escapes the miserable workhouse where he was born only to fall into the clutches of a band of pickpockets led by the odious Fagin. Yet no amount of cruelty can destroy his purity... and through his goodness, he finds salvation.