Charles Dickens was born in POrtsmjoth in 1812 and spent his ea rIV childhOOd in Chatham．when he was twelve Vears oId his father was．rnprisoned for debt and DIckens was forced to work in a bIackingfactory.ThIs expe rIence Inspired in hIrn a hatred of sociaI eviIs and uniust Iaws，themes that wOuId Cnop up time and again In his novels． By the 1830s，DiCkens had estabIished a career as a journalist，and his pieces on evenryday people caught attention of a publisher，who ColIected them as Sketches by‘Boz’，followed by The Pickwick(Papers(both 1836—7)．Dickens’novels first appeared in monthly InsfaImenfs before being pubIished ln book form，and he was a proIific worker,churning Out CIassics year after year。They IncIuded Oliver Twisf(1837—9)，Nichoas Nickleby(1838—9)，The old Curiosity Shop(1840-1)’A Christmas Carol(1843)，David Copperfeld(1849—50)and Greaf Expectations(1860—1)，alI of them massiveIy popular in their day and Still qreatly admired in the 21st century． On top of this prodigous workload，Dickens found time to undertake Iecture tours，campaign agalnst SociaI injustice and conduct a somewhat scandaIous private life．incIudin a long-term liaison with young actress ElIen Ternan．He died SuddenIy In 1870，leavinq his Iast noveI，The Mystery0f Edwin Drood，unfinished，but having carved out for himself a reputation as the g0and oId man Of EngIISh fiCtIon．

Oliver Twist published in 1838，is one Of Charles Dickens’s best—known and most Ioved works．It has been adapted into several fIlms and a long running Broadway musicaI and has been considered a Classlc ever Since it was first published.The book OriginalIy appeared as a seriaI in a magazine called Bentleyr’s Miscellany．of which DiCkens was editor．Each week．readers waited anxiously for the next instaIment in the tale;this expIains why each Chapter ends with a cliffhanger’that would hold the． reader’s attentlon and interest until the folloWing chapter waS published．