I don't think that anyone needs to have read Oliver Twist in order to like this one. I hadn't as close the story I've gotten is Disney's Oliver and Company. So I was able to go into this one without any preconvince notions about the character of Jacob Fagin. So to me it was new story. And that's what I would recommend to readers.

Fagin the Thief is a fascinating retelling of Oliver Twist that centers on Fagin, the thief who takes in young boys and trains them to pick the pockets of Londoners in the mid-19th century. I will admit that I haven't read Oliver Twist, but the knowledge of the book I have gleaned from the musical and from general knowledge was enough context to have a clear understanding what was happening. My favorite parts of the book were Fagin's childhood and his early encounters with key characters (especially Bill Sikes and Nancy). Epstein really made clear the emotional and relational connections that drove the characters. I was not as enthralled with later portions of the book, but it was still very satisfying. I especially appreciated how Epstein brought out the rampant antisemitism of the time (which was apparently on full display in Dickens's first edition of the book).

Like the recent retelling of the story of Twain’s Jim, Epstein has taken another celebrated literary character and given him his own tale. Here’s it’s Dickens’ Fagin that takes center stage. The novel explores Fagin’s early life and follows him as he becomes the notorious mentor for the little thieves of London. He even gets a first name, Jacob, and a mother who brings more humanity to his life.

Back are the central figures of Dickens’ world. There’s the Artful Dodger, Charley Bates, little Oliver and most importantly, Bill Sikes and Nancy. But an important element is the unveiling of prejudice towards Jews in Fagin’s world which resulted in a childhood filled with cruelty and hardships. Survival on the streets necessitated that the young Jacob make decisions that lead to his future as a stealthy, accomplished thief. In adulthood he shows some affection for his young charges and shows a humanity that was not apparent in Dicken’s classic. That’s not to say he’s meant to be lauded as a humanitarian. Instead, he did what he had to do to stay alive, while looking out for the youngsters who were abandoned and alone. That being said, his first priority was always his own survival and he benefitted from the children bringing him stolen goods to pawn for money. But here we glimpse inside Fagin’s survivalist instinct to his soft spot for the castoff children with no one to turn to.

Oliver is a very minor character while Sikes is crucial to Fagin’s future. Bill Sikes enters the novel as a young abused boy and emerges over time into the brutal man he became. Nancy is a sympathetic victim, just as Dickens portrayed her.

Epstein’s behind the scenes look at Fagin’s underworld and the plight of both the poor and specifically, the Jews, in Victorian London, is insightful and fascinating. Dickens did not demonstrate sympathy for his Jewish character and this novel provides a backstory to a notorious figure. This is a well written novel that may reintroduce some to the classic characters and storytelling created by a master of literature. It sheds a slightly different light and gives a more introspective glimpse into the world of Fagin. A remarkable tale that highlights the harsh realities facing the poor in London in the Nineteenth Century and shows the desperate struggle to survive.

Interesting reimagining of the life of Fagin from Oliver Twist. Oliver Twist plays a minor role in this novel, while anti-Semitism is always present. I couldn’t put down this novel.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Fagin the Thief is Allison Epstein’s third novel and, for me, she is three for three. Her historical novels are all quite different, but all insanely good. (A Tip for the Hangman and Let the Dead Bury the Dead are must-reads.)

Fagin the Thief is a retelling of Dickens’ Oliver Twist, primarily from the viewpoint of Fagin, though we also get peeks into the psyches of Bill Sykes and Nan. Full disclosure: I’ve never read Oliver Twist. What I know of the story comes from the musical Oliver! and from popular references. But you don’t need to know anything about Oliver Twist to appreciate Fagin the Thief. Oliver, the poor orphan, is hardly present in this novel, but he serves as the catalyst for the culminating events.

Jacob Fagin was orphaned at a young age. His father had been hanged as a thief, and Jacob’s main goal in life (other than staying alive in general) is not to die the way his father did. But a boy has to eat, and Fagin doesn’t see any palatable options for a fatherless, impoverished Jewish boy other than thievery. With the aid of a skilled pickpocket, he learns to provide for himself. And as he grows older (and ages) he becomes a teacher to other young boys who are as desperate and bold as he once was. Yes, he is raising them up into a life of crime, but he feeds them, houses them, teaches them a skill, and cares for them.

Epstein portrays the grit, hunger, and desperation of London’s slums with such realism that the reader can empathize not just with Fagin, but also with the true villain of the piece, Bill Sykes. Once one of Fagin’s trainees, Sykes is not satisfied with the takings available to a pickpocket. And Fagin has to watch as the crimes escalate and Sykes becomes crueler and ever more violent.

This is a novel full of morally ambiguous characters who are shaped by their environment as well as their personal demons. The true evils in the book are poverty and prejudice. There is a message in the book, but it doesn’t stoop to preachiness. It takes the reader right into the lives of people who are so downtrodden that to be taken in by a master thief could be seen as a blessing.

Not only that, but the writing is superb. Highly recommended.

I’m not sure there is a story that has evolved more over the years in order to accommodate cultural taste than Oliver Twist.

Who could forget the cringe-y Oliver! The Musical, with its jaunty romanticization of poverty, or the far more charming but no more true to the original Disney version, Oliver and Company?

I have no issue with the reinterpretation of original material to suit current interests in general, but when it comes to Dickens’ Oliver, we have both figuratively and literally lost the plot.

And all of that made Fagin the Thief an especially good read, as it pays true homage to the spirit of Dickens’ original work while still finding its own perspective.

Fagin isn’t exactly a mysterious character in the original version of the story. He’s pretty transparent, so it’s not as though we feel as though we’ve never known his perspective until now. But Epstein invented a backstory that makes that perspective feel so much more rich and nuanced while still true to character, and that’s the beauty of this novel.

In some ways, it’s a critical study of an historically classic character, in other ways it’s a reinvention of that character. It’s also an interesting spin on the story as a whole, giving most of Dickens’ original characters a slightly different but still true to form fate in the end.

Epstein always excels at historical context and setting in her novels, and it’s exceptionally well rendered here. The sense of place is outstanding: Dickensian London at its darkest and bleakest, yet also its most evocative and (in a way) its most oddly beautiful.

In all, a lovely tribute to Dickens (and yes, I do think it suits to read the original before reading this for maximum understanding and enjoyment), as well as a truly original take on a classic.

Fagin the thief is not so much the retelling of Dickens' Oliver Twist as it is a deep dive into its characters, with the focus on Fagin, the original villain of Dickens' novel. Allison Epstein has produced an absorbing book, one that fleshes out and humanizes its characters, especially Fagin, whom she dubs with the first name Jacob. Just as Biblical Jacob, Jacob Fagin steals from others, much as Biblical Jacob stole his brother's birthright, and leaves a rich legacy not of material things but of the boys he took under his wing and of the few friends he acquired in the more than 50 years he spent in London prior to his eventual court sentencing. Epstein takes some liberties with the original story, but it is all to the good. Fagin the Thief is a brilliant novel that will appeal to a wide array of readers. Highly recommended.

Retellings and new perspectives on old stories are firmly in my wheelhouse, and I was very impressed with Allison Epstein's story on Fagin, the legendary thief from Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist. Epstein gives such a nuanced backstory to this character, and it's a very sensitive take. It observes the deep antisemitism in both Dickens's original storytelling and the environment in which Fagin would have lived, and lets that inform the characters and storytelling in impactful ways.

Fagin the Thief, as you might expect, is a retelling of the Oliver Twist story from the perspective of its villain, Jacob Fagin.


I haven’t actually read Oliver Twist, though I’ve wanted to for many years. I suppose I’d heard enough of the story that it seemed like it might not be one of Dickens’ more nuanced works. On top of that, Dickens’ depiction of Fagin is considered one of the most antisemitic characterizations in literature (Dickens later removed his many negative references to Jews in this book). Epstein’s book addresses this problem, portraying Fagin as a complex character who is not wholly sympathetic character but also not evil.

It’s hard to write about a retelling without having read the original book, so I’ll have to write about this novel largely on its own merits. Though I was curious throughout about the parallels to Dickens’ story, and the author explains much of this in her afterword.

Most of this novel occurs before the events in Oliver Twist. It begins in 1838, as Fagin is working with the Artful Dodger and meets Oliver, but then it goes back about 50+ years to when Fagin is a young child, growing up with his mother, Leah, in a poor Jewish neighborhood. Fagin is clever and ambitious, too clever to be satisfied with the drudgery and anti-semitism of daily life. He’s an outcast even in his neighborhood because his father was hanged as a thief. He first joins a gang of bullies, then he discovers his skill at picking pockets. He tries, for his mother’s sake, to stay on a straight path, but he’s drawn to a life of crime.

Fagin isn’t a good person, but he’s also not a bad one. He steals but he doesn’t hurt anyone, wishing mainly to be left alone. And when he sees a child who’s in danger of starving or being arrested, he takes them in and teaches them to survive on the streets of London.

Epstein incorporates many of the characters from Oliver Twist: Nancy, Bet, Bill Sikes, Bullseye, the Artful Dodger, Toby and Charley. Bill Sikes is a key character in the story, and Epstein spends much time exploring the friendship between the two men and contrasting their characters. Sikes is volatile, insecure, and violent, but also charming – while Fagin lacks charisma or good looks but takes care of the people around him.

Quote: Bill has never known how to love anything that can love him back. Care is weakness. Fear is failure. He and Nan will continue to give Bill their love and care and weakness, and Bill will bash his own fear against it until one or both of them breaks.

I loved the rich character development in this book. Bill Sikes is terrifying, and Fagin struggles with the world’s open hatred of him, and he is shaped by the antisemitism he encounters daily. There’s little reason for him to be a law-abiding citizen when he is despised just for the way he looks. Fagin frequently describes himself as selfish, but Epstein portrays him in such a way that Fagin’s perception of himself is mostly inaccurate.

This is a dark read, and a slow-moving one at times, but I felt deeply immersed in Fagin’s world. It’s the first book I’ve read by Epstein, but it won’t be the last. I definitely recommend this book for fans of Dickens, and now I look forward to reading Oliver Twist.

Note: I received an advanced review copy of this book from Netflix and publisher Doubleday Books. This book will be released February 25, 2025. It meets the Jewish Genre reading challenge.

Another excellent historical novel to kick off 2025! Allison Epstein dives into the story of Oliver Twist, fleshing out the lives of Fagin, Bill Sykes, and Nancy, certainly the more interesting characters of the story. We learn about their pasts, how they became who they are in Oliver Twist, what it's like to be a Jew in 1830's London--she even gives Fagin a first name, Jacob. What options are open to the poorest of the poor?

It's good, it's gritty, and the denizens of the East End of London lurch to dirty, flea-bitten life. Fagin the Thief is an excellent read and a fine piece of historical fiction.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books | Doubleday for the digital advance reader copy.

It's been over thirty years since I read Oliver Twist in high school, but between that read and some repeated watchings of the musical, both on screen and stage, I was looking forward to this new take on the character of Fagin, which, according to Epstein, would neither "sanitize or disown him" or his Jewishness. He would no longer be an anti-semitic caricature, but fully human.

We start with Fagin approaching a life-changing moment in 1838 and then flashback to how he came to be there in that moment.

We see him as a fatherless child of a hanged thief in a Jewish community in London, haunted by his father's death. We seem him as a young teen fighting to survive in whatever way he has too, even as others as poor and desperate as him sneer at him. We see him as a young adult who has found a corner of the world to call his own, and who is willing to assist children who are as desperate as he was at one time, including young Bill Sykes.

Fagin's relationship with Sykes will change the rest of his life. The two share a trauma-bonded love-hate father-son relationship that is complicated by both of their fears about their own worth. Their strange symbiosis will lead to that life-changing moment at the start of the book.

I found Fagin to be complicated and compelling. No longer a caricature, but a man with loves, fears, and hopes who is neither hero nor villain.

*violence, racist language

Quotes:

"Because it doesn't matter if you're afraid. There's nothing else. We'll both end just the same. A pile of bones buried behind Newgate. Enjoy what you have while you have it. None of it lasts." It sounds less awful with Leftwich says it. In Leftwich's voice, it seems obvious that a life like the one they're living won't extend long into the future. Theirs is a short story, the beats achingly familiar."

"Better to cut his losses and care for himself, because this is the price that must be paid when someone else cares for you, the searing, ever-expanding pain when they inevitably disappear. Iron hearts can't break. It's a lesson he will remember."

"It's the first lesson he taught Bill: don't ever love anyone more than you love yourself."

"Our trade was to live, by any means necessary. I'm an old man, sir, and a poor one, but I still have the right to live."

FAGIN THE THIEF is a remarkable achievement and a thoroughly enjoyable read. A familiarity with Dickens and especially OLIVER TWIST would be helpful but certainly not required in order to enjoy this new novel, which serves as a companion text to OLIVER TWIST, telling the story of Fagin and a few other characters who are not the central focus of Dickens' work.

The author has clearly done her research, and this is a well-crafted story with just the right amount of historical detail to immerse the reader into each scene. Yes, there is a dreary vibe, but that is to be expected for a Victorian tale, especially one so intimately connected to Dickens.

An ingenious premise to feature Fagin. Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance e-galley; all opinions in my review are 100% my own.

This isn’t a retelling of Oliver Twist, but a fleshing out of the characters of Fagin, Sikes and Nan and the events that brought them to their encounter with Oliver Twist. It’s an examination of the life experiences that shaped their characters and relationships with each other. The writing is excellent and the story builds an empathy for all those involved, except perhaps Oliver himself! Highly recommend.

In Fagin the Thief, Epstein entices a vilified creature from the pages of literature and gives readers an opportunity to see Fagin the Hebrew through an alternate lens to Dickens’ antisemitic stereotype—a less biased lens where his mother, his childhood, his environs, and those he meets conjoin to make him who he is, and who and what he becomes. Dickens didn’t bless Fagin with a first name, so to Epstein he is simply Jacob. Scenes in 1838 revisit similar ones in Oliver Twist (familiarity with Oliver Twist isn’t needed) and are interspersed with Jacob’s early life, beginning in 1793, at age six, living with his mum, Leah, in a Stepney slum. Despite his mother’s fair warnings, her beloved son is a product of his times, falling in with a gang and at 11, finessing pickpocketing during five years of expert tutelage. He’s 26 when 13-year-old Bill Sikes stumbles across the doorstep of the tumbledown house in Clerkenwell. Thereafter, various and sundry boys are taught pickpocketing and thievery. The secondary characters—Charley Bates, Toby Crackit, Dodger—seem close to Dickens’ vision, with Oliver a sidenote to a story which is primarily the interrelationship between Jacob, the brutal Bill Sikes and the thief Nancy, Bill’s plucky, long-suffering girl.

Despite his label of career criminal who rarely ventures out to commit crimes, Epstein’s Jacob is very much in the thick of his trade—one which doesn’t make him much money, but a living he willingly shares. This is a kinder, less miserly vision of the thief who, perhaps because he is so extraordinary at what he does, doesn’t fall prey to criminal charges until he is 51. But at that point we’ve seen, through extended vignettes, that Jacob is, above all, a human being rather than a fanciful stereotype. I was thoroughly transported to the mean streets of 19th-century London in this absorbing character study.

A rich, rewarding story that winds through history and the complicated social position of Jews in Victorian London. A worthy spin that lends depth to Dicken's villain.

This is a wonderful read for any Dickens fan or for anyone who enjoyed Oliver Twist. It's also a good story in its own right, though I think it's especially satisfying if you're already familiar with Oliver, the Artful Dodger, and all the other characters. Fagin arrives in the story as an interesting study and Epstein does a wonderful job applying a backstory and making the present-day action flow. Very well done.

In Fagin the Thief, Allison Epstein recounts the life of Oliver Twist's Fagin. Oliver appears in this novel a few times, but this is Fagin's story, from his childhood in London's isolated Jewish neighborhood to his adult life raising and "teaching" orphans from the street. In fact, Fagin's first street child was Bill Sykes, a character who remains a presence in Fagin's life, a sometimes friendly, frequently menacing presence.

Fagin the Thief is a melancholy read. Good moments arrive, but are always precarious. Day-to-day life is never having enough money to be sure of meals and spending most nights in insalubrious pubs. In the last third, the novel moves into a narrative arc in which we see Fagin's life at risk. It's not until the last few pages that readers know whether he's survived.

Epstein's novel may have found its genesis a novel by Dickens, but it is very much Fagin's story and he's an interesting man to spend time with. The reader doesn't always approve of his choices, but the reader certainly understands them. If you're looking for a read based in sorrow, but leavened with moments of connection and community, you'll find Fagin the Thief a treat.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

Fagin the Thief is a reimagining of Oliver Twist, from the perspective of Jacob Fagin - the best pickpocket in London. I completely missed that when I first read the description, and was just drawn to the story. I’ve never read Oliver Twist and all I know about it is the “please sir, I want some more” line I remember from some kind of parody.

For me, the book but it wasn’t an easy read. Between chapters varying in times and the various characters, there wasn’t an even flow. I was bored with the story at times and couldn’t figure out where it was going.

The antisemitism in the book was prevalent and seemed overused. I know it was true to the time, and the author’s note explained the origin of it from Oliver Twist. That being said, it was almost distracting and took my focus away from the rest of the story.

I’m fairly certain I was at a disadvantage not knowing the characters and their stories. This book may be better suited to someone familiar with Oliver Twist.

This book wasn’t for me but I’d definitely read more from the author.

TY BookBrowse and NetGalley for the digital ARC!

Review of “Fagin the Thief”

I read “Oliver Twist” several decades ago, and was fascinated by the opportunity to read this re-imagining of the villain of Dicken’s novel set in the mid-nineteenth century. Somewhat to my surprise, it is a sympathetic Jacob Fagin that appears in Allison Epstein’s novel. Jacob is a boy abused by his father, who was also a thief, and loved by a mother who tried to point him in a different direction, to no avail.

The storyline also emphasizes the extreme anti-Semitism in London at that time, as Jacob Fagin was a secular Jew, but a Jew nonetheless. The attitude toward him by society was, “Of course, he’s a thief, he’s a Jew, isn’t he?” The story takes us through his early life as a ragamuffin pickpocket on the street, eventually becoming a master thief. In the Dickens story, it appears that Fagin deliberately gathered boys into his lair, sending them out into the streets to pick the pockets of the rich and bring the spoils back to him.

Epstein presents a different storyline, that boys sought him out to escape their fate and be trained by him. He becomes a reluctant rescuer of these boys. Jacob is not a kindly hero, but he does have a soul and a conscience, of sorts. Oliver, interestingly enough, is not a major character in this novel, but does appear and takes part, against his will, in an abortive home robbery that goes awry.

At this point, Epstein imagines a different story concerning the violent Bill Sikes and his girlfriend Nancy, which becomes the main focus of the rest of the book. Without giving spoilers away, they all come to an end in a different way than in Dicken’s novel. If your remembrance of Dicken’s version is strong, you might object to Epstein’s version, but I frankly thought it was well done and actually made more sense. And a novel is, after all, a novel, so the author can go anywhere they wish. I highly recommend it. Thanks to BookBrowse and NetGalley for providing a pre-publication version for review.

In 18th c London, if you were poor and fatherless and Jewish your chances in life were slim. Jacob Fagin’s beloved mother sewed to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. She made sure that he studied with the rabbi and read him books. One day Fagin wandered out of his safe neighborhood and was tolerated by a gang of boys. Then, he observed a man with rings on his fingers as he picked a man’s pocket. Fagin followed him and asked that the man teach him to be a thief.

By the time Fagin’s mother died, he was accomplished in his career, but homeless and on his own. His mentor rebuffed his appeals. Vowing to never love or trust again, he found a woman willing to give him a place on the floor to sleep in exchange for caring for her daughter in the daytime. When she came home, Fagin’s work day began.

Forced out by the family who rented the one bed, Fagin found an empty building to occupy. His success as a thief who had never been caught drew desperate young people to his door. And he takes them in, teaches his craft. He becomes attached to them. There is the Artful Dodger, “the greatest pickpocket London ever saw.” Bill Sikes, the angry, abused, boy who can’t allow himself to be soft; dangerous, but still loved by Fagin. And Nancy, whose heart and joy win over all her know her–even Sikes.

Fagin the Thief freely reimagines the character from Dickens’ Oliver Twist, creating an outstanding and fully realized man with a heartbreaking story, making Dickens’ version look like a version forged by a demand for evil criminals and despicable Jews to hate. Even Sikes gains sympathy, twisted as he was by his upbringing. But Oliver, who has a minor role, in the end is smirking and superior.

“”Every modern adaptation of Oliver Twist has to deal with the Fagin problem,” Epstein writes in the afterword. Dickens made alterations to later editions, removing hundreds of references to the word Jew after receiving a letter from a Jewish woman noted that the book “encouraged a prejudice against the despised Hebrew.”

Epstein calls her novel “an exercise in imaginative empathy.” Fagin contends with the cruel realities of his time: the deep antisemitism, the weighted judicial and punitive penal system, the plight of workers who toil in poverty, the lack of medical care and early death from disease, homeless children left to fend for themselves. By understanding the character’s backstory we care about them.

That empathy does not stop with the characters in her novel. We are reminded that two hundred some years later we haven’t resolved these social ills. Antisemitism and racism, a broken system that funnels too many into prison, lack of universal and affordable health care, childhood poverty and homelessness, still destroy lives.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.