{"product_id":"9780349136387-oliver-twist-me-the-true-story-of-charles-dickenss-best-loved","title":"Oliver Twist \u0026 Me: The True Story of Charles Dickens's best-loved","description":"**SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK BIOGRAPHY PRIZE** \"Idiosyncratic and entertaining,\" Sunday Times \"A fascinating family and social history,\" Catherine Taylor, author of  The Stirrings: A Memoir in Northern Time \"A fascinating dual story,\" Edel Coffey,  The Gloss We 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  Oliver Twist . Except that's only part of the story.  In 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  Oliver Twist \u0026amp; Me , 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. By playing off the lives of a working-class hero and a classic author,  Oliver Twist \u0026amp; Me  reveals Dickens - and his world - as they have never been seen before.","brand":"Book Grocer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48888926437595,"sku":"9780349136387","price":30.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/6d7b1ce7-9639-40bd-a237-9abcd4c513b3.jpg?v=1781790534","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/9780349136387-oliver-twist-me-the-true-story-of-charles-dickenss-best-loved","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}