Jack doesn’t recognize Olivia, even as she blurts out Dodger’s name. The drama begins about 10 years after Ollie had been arrested and Dodger had gone on his own path when they accidentally meet at a soiree, inside their hostess’ bed chambers, both in the process of looting. But in order for Dodger to enter fine homes of London, she works to turn him into a gentleman named Jack MacCarron. Dodger meanwhile is “artfully” adopted by a “society matron” who has lost her fortune and sees his larceny skills as a way to maintain her lifestyle. Ollie then becomes a high society lady named Olivia. An unfortunate caper goes awry, and Ollie is arrested but rescued by a wealthy uncle who had been searching for her. When Olivia, now known as “Ollie,” escapes the horrors of the workhouse, she is found by Artful Dodger, the leader of a gang of ragamuffins, who teaches her the art of thievery. In her version, Olivia is born in a workhouse where a surgeon recommends she be raised as a boy so she could have a “fighting chance” to survive the crime-ridden streets of 19th-century London. Lorie Langdon’s new young adult book, “Olivia Twist,” remakes Charles Dickens’ classic “Oliver Twist” and serves up a pleasurable read with countless thrills.
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