{"product_id":"oliver-twist-me-9780349136387","title":"Oliver Twist  Me","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA fascinating family and social history and a savage indictment of the role of child slavery in the growth of the Industrial Revolution, Catherine Taylor, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Stirrings: A Memoir in Northern Time\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe all think we know the tale. As a child, Charles Dickens was forced to work in a mouldering Thames-side blacking factory, an event that scarred him for life and inspired \u003ci\u003eOliver Twist\u003c\/i\u003e. Except that''s only part of the story. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn reality, Dickens appropriated the stories of foundlings and orphans - including Robert Blincoe, whose memoir supplied the source material for his great novel of childhood. In \u003ci\u003eOliver Twist \u0026amp; Me\u003c\/i\u003e, novelist Nicholas Blincoe presents a dual biography of Dickens and his great-great-great-grandfather Robert, showing how the story of an orphan took off in different directions, helping Dickens project himself as an inimitable literary one-off, just as Robert''s memoir of a workhouse boy gave a voice to the masses.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom London and Kent to the factories of Manchester, Blincoe retraces the steps of both men, along the way discovering the Camden workhouse that inspired Dickens and revisiting the great stage musical. His journeys with his family and his dog Fredo lead him to an affectionate reassessment of a beloved classic, while also revealing how Dickens shaped the story of his lonely childhood to suppress his debt to his family, hide his affairs and, as his career ignited, abandon the people who had helped him. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy playing off the lives of a working-class hero and a classic author, \u003ci\u003eOliver Twist \u0026amp; Me\u003c\/i\u003e reveals Dickens - and his world - as they have never been seen before.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51618745549143,"sku":"9780349136387","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780349136387.jpg?v=1756903154","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/oliver-twist-me-9780349136387","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}