-
See Our Best Book
Club Books of 2026!
Summary | Excerpt | Discuss | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
A Novel
by Allison Epstein
Book Reviewed by:A thrilling reimagining of the world of Charles Dickens, as seen through the eyes of the infamous Jacob Fagin, London's most gifted pickpocket, liar, and rogue.
Long before Oliver Twist stumbled onto the scene, Jacob Fagin was scratching out a life for himself in the dark alleys of nineteenth-century London. Born in the Jewish enclave of Stepney shortly after his father was executed as a thief, Jacob's whole world is his open-minded mother, Leah. But Jacob's prospects are forever altered when a light-fingered pickpocket takes Jacob under his wing and teaches him a trade that pays far better than the neighborhood boys could possibly dream.
Striking out on his own, Jacob familiarizes himself with London's highest value neighborhoods while forging his own path in the shadows. But everything changes when he adopts an aspiring teenage thief named Bill Sikes, whose mercurial temper poses a danger to himself and anyone foolish enough to cross him. Along the way, Jacob's found family expands to include his closest friend, Nancy, and his greatest protégé, the Artful Dodger. But as Bill's ambition soars and a major robbery goes awry, Jacob is forced to decide what he really stands for—and what a life is worth.
Colorfully written and wickedly funny, Allison Epstein breathes fresh life into the teeming streets of Dickensian London—reclaiming one of Victorian literature's most notorious villains in an unforgettable new adventure.
1
1838
London
The sun isn't yet up over Bell Court, and already someone is screaming.
It's not, however, a familiar scream, and so Jacob ignores it. There's a select circle of people whose screams he knows intimately, and for surety of whose well-being he will sacrifice the sear on a pan of sausages to investigate a cry in the dark. But whoever's screaming through the uncertain light slipping into the narrow court is a stranger, and one who sounds more angry than frightened. Well, Jacob thinks, twirling the toasting-fork so it catches the firelight, there's a great deal in the world to be angry about. If some stranger can't bear the trials of life without howling in the streets about it, that's none of his affair.
He flips one of the sausages—a little early; its exterior is beginning to toast but is not yet fully browned. He settles into his chair, drawing his scarlet dressing-gown back from where it slipped to expose his throat and the ridges of his collarbones. Behind him, an old ...
What are you reading this week? (5/15/2025)
I'm reading Fagin the Thief (Allison Epstein)–pretty good so far; I'm not sure I've every read Oliver Twist, but I really love a good rewrite/backstory of classic fiction. I also just picked up The Three-Body Problem–has anyone read that?
-Aprile_G
In Allison Epstein's reimagining, Fagin is not the villain we've come to expect, who tempts and ensnares desperate young boys into a life of vice. Rather, he offers otherwise abandoned children a chance at survival, and is a complex, ambiguous man, whose motivations remain murky even to himself... The real story is the complex relationship between Fagin and Sikes, who are mentor and protégé, debatably brothers, and arguably friends. No one quite knows which of these best describes their connection, least of all Fagin himself...continued
Full Review
(866 words)
(Reviewed by Pei Chen).
Celia Bell, author of The Disenchantment
More than a simple reimagining of Dickens's most troubling villain, Fagin the Thief is a haunted look at the loneliness of Victorian London's underworld. Epstein's rogues and thieves are at once tenderly imagined and savagely cruel, carving out precarious lives in the shadow of the gallows and the jail. Clever, cowardly, soft-hearted and selfish all at once, Jacob Fagin sheds the constraints of his original story and demands the right to speak for himself. Flora Carr, author of The Tower
A gripping retelling of Dickens's Oliver Twist, unpredictable and full of twists and turns; it kept me hooked, and it also kept me guessing! It's also a sensitively drawn portrait of one of literature's most maligned characters. Julia Fine, author of Maddalena and the Dark
Heart-wrenching and delicious and impossible to put down, Fagin the Thief does for Fagin what Wicked did for The Wicked Witch of the West. Allison Epstein is absolutely at the top of her game.
Charles Dickens' works have been adapted and retold in countless forms. In the case of Oliver Twist, the most notable adaptations have been straightforward retellings of the original storyline. For example, the West End musical adaptation Oliver! largely adheres to Dickens' plot, although it omits the events before Oliver ends up at the workhouse; it also sets up a final showdown between Mr. Brownlee and Bill Sikes, with the custody of Oliver at stake. Oliver! was later adapted into the musical film of the same name, which won a 1968 Oscar for Best Picture, one of the only musicals in history to do so.
The first film adaptation was produced as a silent film in 1909, and many others have followed. The most recent film adaptation was ...
If you liked Fagin the Thief, try these:
by Yuri Herrera
Published 2024
A major new novel set in nineteenth-century New Orleans by the author of Signs Preceding the End of the World.
by Zadie Smith
Published 2024
From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who gets to tell their story—and who gets to be believed
The Sister's Curse
by Nicola Solvinic
The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes
by Chanel Cleeton
The Vanishing Place
by Zoë Rankin
 (1).gif)
Dictators ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
