Jack Dawkins

by Charlton Daines

Jack Dawkins, once known as the Artful Dodger in the streets of London, was sent to Australia on a prison ship when he was little more than a boy. Now he has returned to find that London has changed while the boy has turned into a man.

With few prospects provided by his criminal past and having developed mannerisms that allow him to move amongst a higher strata of society, Jack turns his back on the streets that would have primed him as a successor to the murderer, Bill Sikes, and quickly remodels himself as a gentleman thief.

New acquaintances and a series of chance encounters, including one with his old friend Oliver, create complications as remnants of his past come back to plague him. Jack is forced to struggle for a balance between his new life and memories that haunt him with visions of the derelict tavern where Nancy used to sing.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

ebook

First published April 1, 2013

About the author

Charlton Daines is an academic and an aficionado of fine Literature. As such, he has sought to add to the collective of world Literature with the occasional selection that might appeal to those with a love of Classics and Historical Fiction.

The occasional spot of Humour or flights of fancy are likely to slip into this all too serious catalogue of self-indulgent scribblings.

Charlton Daines was born in London, but currently lives in the middle of England with his family, which includes an odd selection of common and pedigree cats.

Reviews

[Jay Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fitting sequel

I am so pleased that Charlton Daines was the author to take on this story. Those of us who loved Oliver Twist present a tough audience to convince that a new novel about The Artful Dodger as an adult is a legitimate continuation of the same character’s life story, but Daines pulls it off admirably. Dodger was a lovable rogue as a child in Dickens’ hands and has the same sterling qualities as an adult as he returns to England in Daines’ care.

In this story Jack finds it increasingly difficult to reconcile the two sides of his life, the underworld of thieves (and worse) which he must use to support himself, and the upper middle class life he becomes increasingly a part of through his association with Oliver. The development of both plot and characters is very satisfying and I found I was rooting for Jack to get the right stroke of good fortune to allow him to make the right choices. None of it felt forced or unnatural, we met some interesting new characters, and best of all I got the happy ending I was hoping for.

I was allocated this book to review as part of the Goodreads Review Group scheme for non-reciprocal reviewing of indie authors by indie authors. I received a free copy but this in no way obligated me to give any other than an honest review.

[Lynette Willows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of “Jack Dawkins” by Charlton Daines

I want to preface this review by saying I read it from the viewpoint of someone who has never read Charles Dickens. I have, but it was years ago. I wanted to do this so I could find out if it could stand alone as a novel in its own right, and not dependent on former knowledge.

Jack Dawkins, The Artful Dodger, returns to England from ten years in the Australian convict outback, having escaped from there. His return is illegal, not having served his full sentence of life, but for this clever child thief, that was not a hindrance. He endeavors to find anyone connected with his former circle of child thieves, especially Oliver Brownlow, a young man he had helped kidnap years ago, and who was ultimately rescued from a life on the streets with the accidental help of Jack. Now Jack is back in London and determined to look up Oliver and regain that connection.

What follows is an in-depth and insightful exploration of one man’s searching for his place in a society that didn’t care about him as a child, and cares even less now he’s a young man. Forced to find his own way, he finds that his former skills come in handy, affording his living but fighting his own conscious and re-discovering his morality. In this process, he reluctantly makes connections with even less desirable characters than he was associated with in his childhood, and gets himself into situations that prove more than troublesome.

The plot was engrossing and believable, and it did indeed stand alone as a novel in its own right, with no dependence on former knowledge of the book or the stage play. I was prepared to be bored and was pleasantly surprised to find myself immediately engrossed in the story. It flowed naturally and the characters were well developed and easy to remember. They were certainly not what I call “cookie cutter characters”. You could easily envision their pasts and how they grew up, and what made them do what they did.

I especially enjoyed the play on morality, the theme I took being “nurture VS nature”. Despite his upbringing on the streets, being taught to steal to make a living and the warped morals that were instilled in him from a very young age, he finds he still has feelings and a conscious that, I think, surprises even him. There are things he just won’t consider, showing he is innately a good man, despite his dubious livelihood, knowing no other way.

The atmosphere and descriptions of the location during that era is striking, allowing the reader to “see” the difference in the areas around the city.

I did find the brief love story concerning Jack and Lilly, the modest flower girl, a bit unrealistic, only based on brief glimpses and even briefer meetings, but that could be because my background is in romance writing. I tried hard to find flaws in this novel and this was the best I could come up with.

All in all, a great read, and I would highly recommend it, both to those familiar with the work it was based on, and for those unfamiliar with Dickens work. I enthusiastically rate this as a five star read.

[Mark Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

An attempt at expanding the work of a world class
author, such as Dickens, might label a writer:
a) Insane
b) Egotistical
c) Foolish
d) Delusional

I am happy to report that Charlton Danes proves that, as a writer, he is none of the above. His choice of main character is one most of us know by nickname yet know little about the character. Who doesn’t know the name, ‘Artful Dodger.’
I am not qualified to speak as a Dickens scholar or fan but I have read most of his major novels and feel comfortable in stating that Danes has written his tale in a style that will make any reader of Dickens comfortable.
The book was well paced. It contained enough twist and turns to keep my interest peaked and my anticipation high and it has a true Dickensian ending.
I will not waste your time or mine with a synopsis. It is every thing you expect from a Dickens tale. If you like Dickens you will surely enjoy this novel.

[Zulfiya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first experience reading the self-published novel, and I believe it was a successful attempt. I sincerely and responsibly state that I enjoyed reading this novel. It was not a breathtaking read, neither was is a classy read when you enjoy and devour the literary dessert of words, phrases, and sentences, but not all books are created to be literary masterpieces. Some of them serve a laudable and pragmatic function to entertain its readers. This novel surely does.
The premise of the novel is the return and the new leash of life for one of the fringe but memorable Dickens characters, Jack Dawkins, also known as Artful Dodger.
Jack Dawkins tries to reestablish himself in the society and finds himself split between two societies: the underworld of London thieves, prostitutes, muggers, kidnappers, and other shadowy characters, and the world of the genteel and rich society, the upper crust. He even entertains the idea of being a gentleman thief. Eventually, he does have to make a choice, but it is upon the reader to decide how plausible his choice is.
The character of Jack Dawkins is a flawed character that is always torn between his natural impulses to be good and his desires to practice his superb skills. It might seem strange, but namely this duality is one of his most sympathetic features. The spontaneous combination of doing good things and being remorseful with his permanent desire to pick pockets is truly authentic.

I also believe that though the book is highly entertaining, it provides an interesting historical insight into the underworld and does convey a certain social message: the book reflects the societal structure of nineteenth-century London, the indulgent and decadent life of rich students, the dietary habits, means of transportation, and other facts that create a certain feeling of historicity.

On the other hand, there are things in this novel that prevented me from giving four stars. I refuse to believe that the life of one person could be so intensely built on serendipity: how he meets Oliver, Tom, and the policeman who eventually recognizes him, how other characters' lives are interwoven, all this is highly questionable. For the situation to develop the way it developed in the book, too many things should come together, and they did, which, in my opinion, is a stretch.
Another weakness is the choice of words. The author makes a laudable effort and painstakingly diffuses the text with the professional argot of thieves, but he refuses to create a minuscule semblance to the Victorian discourse. Conversely, I have to admit that the author is definitely well-versed, but his choice of words, though elaborate, reflects his position as a modern man of letters. Again, some of those high-brow words and verbal moves did look sparklingly beautiful, hilarious, and even tongue-in-cheeky when they were used in the mundane context.
All in all, I spend a couple of enjoyable evenings in the company of this novel. If you want to know more about the dark underbelly of London in the 19th century and, surprisingly, about the ambrosial desserts, this is the book for you.

[C.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlton Daines has with graceful aplomb crafted a masterful and winning tale, craftily adopting the tone, lingua franca and communal sin qua non of olde tyme London. The tale blips along quite naturally, all being of one with its Olive Twist beginnings as it swiftly toggles from Jack Dawkins in his natural "petty thief" state, to the new and improved Jack Dawkins who so smoothly acquaints and inserts himself into polite society. Naturally, it is only a matter of negligible time before Dawkins runs head on into his old cohort, Oliver Twist, who has cleanly moved in to and adopted the habits, manners, and air of upper crust society.

A world of seemingly impenetrable suspicions mars their first meeting. Oliver, who expresses to Jack, "Once a thief, always a thief," is understandably concerned about his old acquaintance's ability to shake his old persona. Jack, aka Artful Dodger, receives this pronouncement as a right hook to the head.

Here forward, the tale twists and turns and rises and falls on many incidental and ultimately incendiary developments, pushing Jack Dawkins to the outermost limits of his wily character and its permutations as a fierce internal struggle rages, leaving him unquestionably at odds with his scandalous actions as he moves deeper and deeper into a world he had only known antagonistically as the Artful Dodger, only to face it now head on with a susurrating, closely held hope that he may one day be fully accepted into this world, much like Pinocchio wishing ever so dearly to become a "real boy."

As rehabilitative efforts have been reported to have no appreciable effect on recidivism, the criminal justice system's efforts to rehabilitate offenders have failed. With hope springing eternal, Jack Dawkins proceeds with trilling trepidation, deeply haunted as he finds painful the truism "old habits die hard."

In this well-crafted saga, Daines has whipped up not only a study on criminology, but what may very well have been the continuing tale of the Artful Dodger had Dickens so chosen to pursue it to its logical conclusion. If the story of Oliver Twist has a lingering resonance with you, it is strongly recommended you read this indispensable work of Charlton Daines. Not only does it serve as worthy companion to its engendering tale of old world London, but it is a tale that Dickens himself would no doubt approve without compunction.

C.B. Smith, author of Love, Knuckles and Melody Genesis

[Patricia Reding · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must say—I am a Dickens fan—totally and completely. What I love most about Dickens is not the stories themselves—it is his characters and descriptions. I could spend—I have spent—hours just reading the amusing ways and manners of these quirky personalities and becoming lost in the places and things that Dickens so creatively and uniquely brought to life. So, it was a pleasure to read this “sequel” to Oliver Twist, a story about a side-character from that great work. In it, the author has managed to re-create Dickinsonian London in the author’s own style, adding nothing to and taking nothing from the great Dickens himself, since by the author’s own words, he did not intend to write in the style of Dickens.

Jack Dawkins returns to London to try to find a new life. While he struggles with trying to determine on which side of the law he will fall, the reader is quite confident from the outset that Dawkins will ultimately seek a life within the law—or at least mostly so. It is Dawkins' attempts to help others—Lilly, the flower girl, Charlie, the kidnapped child, Reg, the street urchin who reminded Dawkins so much of himself in Jack’s earlier days, even those from the seedier side of life who had befriended Jack, like Tom and Graves—that lay this groundwork of expectation for the reader. Thus, the ending, while not a surprise, was the one the reader desired, and the journey along the way was a pleasant meandering through the streets and society of old London.

I do note that there were a fair number of events that occur by happenstance: the hat Dawkins steals happens to belong to the Italian pastry chef who happens to be employed by the Caufields so eventually, Jack happens to learn that he can now safely wear the same in public; Dawkins happens to run into Oliver notwithstanding the vast size of and number of people in the city; Jack happens to run into a man he knows at the train station when Jack is trying to leave town quickly to pawn goods stolen from that very same man; the one copper who will have a heart for a former street waif just happens to be the one that identifies Jack and, though the copper could turn Jack in, does not; and so forth. Notwithstanding, Jack Dawkins was a fun read.

Well done, Charlton Daines. Keep them coming!

[Kathy Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was given to me to provide an unbiased review on Goodreads.com by the author. Upon first reading that the character "the artful dodger" had been borrowed for the premise of this story, I thought, "what audacity", "what ambition"!. But. as soon as I began to read a few passages, I was impressed with the detail, the character development, and the authors' ability to to build upon the story of Oliver and Jack's relationship as grown men. In a brilliant portrayal of Jack's return to the "scene of the crime" years later as a story of the underbelly of pickpockets and thieves intertwine with the upper crust of society, I was reeled into the web of adventure and unable to stop reading until I had exhausted the very last word of this 132 page story. I applaud "Charlton Daines" for this work of art. I would boldly classify this Victorian, historical masterpiece in the same class as "Great Expectations", "Huck Finn" and of course "Oliver Twist". I believe Charles Dickens would be pleased to see his work embellished and expounded upon by this author. I look forward to the next literary undertaking by "Charles Daines". I rate this book a five-star plus...BRAVO...

[Frostyreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Artful Dodger was, perhaps, an undervalued character. Not in Jack Dawkins. Oliver does not take center stage, which was charming. I thoroughly enjoyed this tale, from the opening scene on the return voyage to a city that threw him out, to the ending that I was extremely concerned would be too predictable and tame in order to achieve comfort but was pleasantly surprising. There are delightful supporting characters, interconnected story lines, threads that are reintroduced as the plot progresses and a re-imagining of a scruffy urchin that many of us thought we were familiar with. Enjoyable read.

[Denise Hawley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story about the Artful Dodger when he returns to England as a young adult after his exile in Australia. He's learned some new skills and uses them to pursue a life as a gentleman thief.

This period of Victorian England around the turn of the century saw a lot of changes and Jack has to find his feet in a world that looks very different from the London he left at the age of twelve. He starts to slip into his old ways to an extent, but he's got new tricks up his sleeve and some of them take him among the upper classes, where he inevitably bumps into his old pal, Oliver. He accidentally develops some valuable friendships and finds it all to easy to move between this world and that of the criminal classes with a change of wardrobe and accent.

The personality shown by Jack in this book reminded me a lot of the musical version with Jack Wild. It's well-written and has both hilarious episodes and some serious moments. Jack was a likeable character with some very human weaknesses and of course a background that took him into shady corners, yet he showed an inner desire to want to be better.

Apart from Jack himself, there were few characters borrowed from Dickens, but some very interesting new ones. I was happy to see there's a Christmas sequel that develops one of them further and hope there will be more eventually.

[Emily-Jane Orford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sit back, put your feet up and immerse yourself into the world of the nineteenth-century. Here’s a story to take you back to Oliver’s London, written in the compelling and descriptive narrative style of Charles Dickens himself. It’s Jack Dawkins’ story this time, not Oliver’s. Jack, Oliver’s childhood buddy on the street, accomplice in crime, the infamous Artful Dodger of Fagin’s nefarious crew. And, he’s just returned from Australia where he’s served his time. There’s none of Fagin’s old crew remaining, but that doesn’t bother Jack. He’s a mind to elevate himself to a higher station in life, to seek his rewards in most genteel company. But when he reconnects with his childhood friend, Oliver, Jack realizes, to his surprise, that he actually has a conscience and, whilst the pickings might be good, there is yet a certain element of honor amongst thieves, at least for this thief. And, when a lad goes missing, kidnapped from his upper class home, Jack finds himself once again in his old haunts, only this time more the hero than the villain.

Charlton Daines’s novel, “Jack Dawkins”, is a fast actioned mystery set in Victorian London. Complete with the popular characters of Dickens’s “Oliver Twist”, namely Oliver and Artful Dodger (Jack), this story reads like a Dickens’ story. The narrative is concise and descriptive and the characters are both believable, compelling and capable of all kinds of emotions, including a bit of humor. The wide diversity between the classes in this era is evident and the knowledge that one can actually bridge that gap with little more than a new set of clothes and good command of the Queen’s English. Artful Dodger, aka Jack, seems to straddle the two extremes of society with great ease, until, in the end, he finds his place on one side of the river and decides to make his mark there permanently. A great telling of a story that Dickens left untold. This is indeed a classic, or perhaps I should say a continuation of a classic.

Reviewed for Readers' Favorite.

[Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this ebook via Goodreads to review.

A grown Jack Dawkins returns to London after fleeing the penal colony in Australia. Stepping off the ship he is instantly hit with the changes to the city and the old neighborhood he had grown up in with the cast of young thieves and their caretaker Fagin. Memories flood the mind and heart of the grown Artful Dodger.
Beginning to ply his trade, Dawkins makes his way through the seedy underworld of London and finds in some ways, nothing ever changes. As he carouses among the wealthy, picking pockets along the way, Dawkins stumbles into his old friend; Oliver.

...Oliver, for his part, did not appear to share the sense of comradeship.
"Once a thief always a thief, don't think I don't know that you'd steal from me just as quick as you please"
"Oliver! You wound me!" Jack feigned deeply hurt feelings. "You done alright, but you was Fagin's boy, same as me."
"For a day," Oliver countered. "Two if you count the kidnapping."

As the friendship rekindles, Dawkins is introduced to Oliver's fiancé and her family. Then tragedy strikes, for their young child is kidnapped and as with the past and the kidnapping of Oliver; Jack Dawkins must once again become the Artful Dodger to save the child.
Charlton Daines does a masterful job of picking up the story of Jack Dawkins and bringing about a mature and grown Artful Dodger. Who despite his strongest inclinations, actually desires to do good and become the man the Oliver once thought of as his friend. There are characters filling every page, reminiscent of Dickens and yet standing quite well on their own as well.
A well written and enjoyable read.

[Aniket Harsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrowing a character from a classic and spinning off an independent tale is, at it's best risky. The most difficult part is to overcome the biases of the hard core fans who see any tinkering as nothing short of blasphemy (An example would be those numerous authors who have burnt their hands recreating the magic of Sherlock Holmes). And those readers who do pick up the book, are usually hungover with the original work and critical comparisons are but natural.
I am a huge fan of Dickens and I must say that Charlton Daines has done justice to the tale of Artful Dodger. The feel of the novel rings right. This story could have been just about any other thief set in that period and we would not know the difference. The only borrowing from Dickens is the character of Artful Dodger. The characters from the original work have been mentioned just in passing and have very little bearing on the plot, even our beloved Oliver Twist has minimal presence.
It offered a good reading and at times I felt it might have come out from the pen of the great Charles Dickens himself. The ending, in all of Dickens' novels, typically leaves the readers with a warm satisfied glow within. And Charlton Daines has managed to recreate that magic.

[Sherry Chiger · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a fabulous idea: a novel that follows the adventures of the adult Jack Dawkins, aka the Artful Dodger of Oliver Twist fame. And the plot that Charlton Daines whipped up was in fact promising. Unfortunately the writing--well, when the phrase "he thought to himself" appears on the first page, it doesn't bode well. (To whom else could he think?) So many scenes that begged to be fleshed out were perfunctorily described: What did Jack and Oliver talk about during their several-hour conversation at Twist's house? What was the inside of the train--a novelty to Jack and most other Londoners at the time--like when Jack rode it for the first time? When Jack was noting that the various neighborhoods he walked through differed from one another, why not show us how, rather than leave it entirely up to our imaginations? What did he say as he flirted with Oliver's fiancée? All in all, the book was an exercise in frustration, because I wanted the execution to at least approach the concept in terms of quality.