"Fagin the Thief," Reviewed by William Winkler

Allison Epstein’s first two novels, set in Elizabethan England (“A Tip for the Hangman”) and 19th century imperial Russia (“Let the Dead Bury the Dead”), have established the Michigan native as a skilled writer of historical fiction.

Her most recent novel, “Fagin the Thief,” furthers her reputation as a writer of carefully researched period drama. Set in early 19th century London, the book tells Charles Dickens’s story “Oliver Twist” from the viewpoint of Fagin, the Jewish master thief and mentor of countless young people, training them up in the craft of pickpocketing.

Unlike the Dickens novel, which in its earliest editions was baldly anti-Semitic, Epstein’s narrative portrays its protagonist as Jewish without adding a pejorative context.

The story begins early in Fagin’s life when he is living with his widowed mother who ekes out a living as a seamstress. Fagin never knew his father who, we learn later in the novel, was hanged after being convicted of the crimes which his son would later come to commit with great skill.

Enter Mr. Leftwich, who takes young Fagin under his wing, teaching him the skills of a master thief and pickpocket. Fagin rapidly outpaces his teacher and sets out on his own career, hosting and instructing a stable of young boys, and the occasional girl, to earn their living relieving upper crust Londoners of their belongings.

Now comes Bill Sikes, who in the Dickens novel is the center of evil and depravity. In Epstein’s telling Sikes and Fagin have a long-time relationship of mutual respect and antagonism, ending when Sikes goes to the gallows, sentenced to death for a crime originally thought to have been committed by Fagin.

Epstein follows, in general, the tone and story arc of the original work by Dickens, deviating in key plot points which the reader familiar with the earlier story will recognize. Her attention to detail regarding the life and times of London in the early 1800s will keep readers engrossed and appreciative of the research that have gone into making this a diverting piece of literature.

Buy the Book.