Dodger by Terry Pratchett

Dodger is a tosher – a sewer scavenger living in the squalor of Dickensian London. Everyone who is nobody knows Dodger. Anyone who is anybody doesn’t.

But when he rescues a young girl from a beating, suddenly everybody wants to know him. And Dodger’s tale of skulduggery, dark plans and even darker deeds begins . .

This has been sat on my shelves for an embarrassingly long time! I adore Terry Pratchett and his unique writing style, it just takes me ages to read, which is why I've been putting this off. This was something different for Pratchett, a re-telling of Oliver Twist, something, as a English graduate and huge book-nerd, I got very excited about.

It told of young Dodger, a seventeen year old lad, toughing it out on the streets of London. Until he rescues a young woman from blackguards and finds himself in a rather complicated and dangerous adventure. Pratchett wrote a funny, and very cockney, voice for Dodger, with slurred vowels and missing t's. Plus, it was set over a Victorian London backdrop, where Pratchett depicts the dramatic social changes, the gap between classes and of course the ugly underbelly of London, centred on Dodger's sewer territory. 

While the story was quite long and maybe a little convoluted, it was very entertaining with a mad variety of characters, including Mr Dickens himself. It was typically hilarious and witty and clever, just classic Pratchett.

As a final side note, I of course have to mention the sad news of his passing. I was at work when I found out, I teared up and we made a display table for him immediately. 

Published 13th September 2012 by Doubleday.