The miserable and hungry orphan Oliver Twist is forced to flee his wretched life at the workhouse and ends up alone in London. Innocent and vulnerable, young Oliver enters the terrifying street world of the poor and desperate and soon falls into the clutches of criminal mastermind Fagin and his gang of youthful pickpockets.

London in the 1840s worships money at the expense of love. Mr Dombey pins all his hopes and affections on his son, Paul, and cruelly neglects his loving daughter, Florence. This novel charts Dombey's progress, through tragedy to enlightenment.

'The Pickwick Papers' takes its title from the Pickwick Club founded by Mr Samuel Pickwick, and of which Messrs Tracy Tupman, Augustus Snodgrass and Nathaniel Winkle are members.