Charles Dickens (1812 - 70) is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian age and remains widely read all over the world. Toby Forward has worked full time as a writer for many years. His first writing was for the BBC Radio 4 series Morning Story. He is the author of the widely-acclaimed Wyvern Quartet, The Wolf's Story and the highly regarded fantasy novel series - the Flaxfield Quartet. Toby writes for all ages from picture books to adult fiction. He currently lives in Liverpool. Iassen Ghiuselev was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1964. His outstanding illustrations of children's classics have been published and exhibited internationally and have accorded him the prestigious Bologna Book Fair Prize and a Silver Medal from the American Society of Illustrators. In his interpretation of Dickens' masterpiece, Ghiuselev conjures up the dark world of Oliver Twist through detailed illustrations superbly drafted in pencil, ink and layers of egg tempera.