'Oliver Twist' or 'The Parish Boy's Progress', is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. The story follows the titular orphan, who is subject to deprivation and vexation in the workhouse where he was left following the death of his mother. Indulging a dare by his starving comrades, he asks for an extra portion of gruel, and is placed into apprenticeship with an undertaker. Upon escaping to London, he meets the "Artful Dodger", a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin.