Author Speaker Series: Allison Epstein

Author Speaker Series: Allison Epstein

Join us to hear from Allison Epstein as she gives details about her newest book, Fagin the Thief.

With Fagin the Thief, Amer­i­can nov­el­ist Alli­son Epstein takes on Charles Dick­ens, one of literature's most icon­ic authors, and Oliv­er Twist, one of his most beloved tales. Epstein puts a clever spin on Oliv­er Twist by shin­ing the spot­light on Fagin.

December 9 | 7:00pm

With Fagin the Thief, Amer­i­can nov­el­ist Alli­son Epstein takes on Charles Dick­ens, one of literature’s most icon­ic authors, and Oliv­er Twist, one of his most beloved tales. Epstein puts a clever spin on Oliv­er Twist by shin­ing the spot­light on Fagin.

Fagin is described almost exclu­sive­ly as the Jew,  in this reviewer’s edi­tion of Oliv­er Twist. Despite its cut­ting social com­men­tary at the time, Dick­ens? nar­ra­tive did not invoke any sym­pa­thy for Fagin. Now, Epstein grants the Jew a first name, Jacob, the clever­est of the patri­archs, and gives him a suit­ably Dick­en­sian back­sto­ry on the mean streets of Regency-era London.

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  • Author Speaker Series: Allison Epstein

    With Fagin the Thief, Amer­i­can nov­el­ist Alli­son Epstein takes on Charles Dick­ens, one of literature's most icon­ic authors, and Oliv­er Twist, one of his most beloved tales. Epstein puts a clever spin on Oliv­er Twist by shin­ing the spot­light on Fagin.