In this touching novel, Australian author Kathy George steps into the shoes of Nancy, a character in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, providing her with an intriguing side story and a possible way out from the hectic, unsavoury world she’s mixed up in with the likes of Fagin and his sidekick, Bill Sikes.
With Nancy as narrator, George slips easily into the vernacular of the day and describes the sights, sounds and smells of Dickensian London with great colour. She explains how Nancy came to be Fagin’s first urchin before the Artful Dodger and the others. When she was a lost child on the streets of London, Fagin saw her potential and allowed her to act as a boy until 12, when it became more in his interests for her to be “turning tricks”.
Nancy has become an attractive young woman of 17, who describes herself as brighter than average, though she’s hampered by the fact she can’t read. Her days are spent being sent off to spend time with various “gentlemen” clients while the jealous Bill Sikes loiters in the background to keep her safe. Nancy and Bill live together in an uneasy abusive relationship, the teen using every piece of wit to avoid his fists. She won’t desert him, because a wretched youth has made him the man he is.
On the day this story starts, the daily grind lifts for a moment. Nancy meets Fagin’s latest boy, the angel-faced and blue-eyed Oliver, who she immediately sees is someone special. And she is sent to a new client, Mr Rufus, a gentleman living in surprisingly humble circumstances.
As Oliver has his training with Fagin and co, Nancy becomes caught up in a ruse devised by Mr Rufus that takes her into an upper-class world. She is to dupe his stern Aunt Maud who holds the purse strings, but the lady is not easily fooled. They come to an understanding and Nancy learns from her. Meanwhile, as she spends more time with Mr Rufus, Nancy is shown a more appealing way her life could go. But as she explains, “Me life is not me own.”
As the one who’s been with Fagin the longest, Nancy has a certain standing among his group of thieves, and she is allowed to mother Oliver a bit. The two become close, yet when he disappears she does everything she can to retrieve him for Fagin, even though he doesn’t want to be found. When he is re-captured and sent off on a mad caper with Bill, she suffers huge guilt.
Nancy has a penchant for popping into churches as she goes about her day, not to pray but to just take a breath from the harsh pressures of her life. Along the way, the author beautifully explains Nancy’s love affair with oranges and it’s a heart-wrenching tale.
The main plot lines of Oliver Twist remain intact, though as we get to know Nancy better thanks to George’s excellent storytelling we hope that, for her sake, they don’t. Oliver, of course, has a happy ending, although the novel suggests he wouldn’t have it without the sacrifices of our Nancy behind the scenes.
It’s a wonderful read, a tale with lots of heart, hope, love, grief and adventure. George has the reader gripped from the start to the very end. A perfect tale to read at Christmas.
The Scent of Oranges, by Kathy George (HQ Fiction, $36.99), is out now.
