Steal the Morrow has its orphan, Olifur, fall in with a Robin Hood-esque band of boys living in the forest, led by a kind man named Fritjof who teaches them how to survive and thrive. Unlike Robin Hood, and unlike Fagin in the original book, these folks don't steal. They work.
Eventually, Olifur goes to a big city to find a doctor to help Fritjof, who has weak lungs and gets sick a lot. There, he gets an unpleasant and dangerous job, reminiscent of a work house, to pay the doctor. He encounters this book's versions of the Artful Dodger, Nancy, and Bill Sikes. Moral quandries ensue, which Olifer eventually finds his way through, and the ending is WAY happier than the ending of Oliver Twist.
So, yeah -- happier ending, less misery, far nicer characters, and a Robin Hood aspect make me like Steal the Morrow a lot more than Oliver Twist. I'm not saying it's a better book, I'm just saying I personally like and enjoy it more.
Particularly Good Bits:
Perhaps that was part of growing up, he thought. Perhaps there would always be small pieces of his heart missing, scattered from town to town, staying with the people he cared about most (p. 181).
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for violent loss of parents, scenes of children in peril/danger, and violence toward women and children. No smut or bad language, and the violence is not described in a gory way.
This is my 16th book read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.
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