Oliver Twist The alternative title, "The Parish Boy's Progress", alludes to Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress", as well as the 18th-century caricature series by William Hogarth, "A Rake's Progress" and "A Harlot's Progress". In this early example of the social novel, Dickens satirises the hypocrisies of his time, including child labour, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of working as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's own youthful experiences
Wild Boy (novel) at the Deaf-Mute institute in Paris and Dr. Itard's enthusiasm that here was an opportunity to prove his theory that whatever a person's background, they could be brought into civilised society. Unfortunately, the task proves far more difficult than he anticipated... Inspiration for the novel came from Uta Frith's 1989 book "" in which the Wild Boy of Aveynon is claimed to be the first documented autistic child. Further insights came from Dawson's personal experience with her own son who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. Wild Boy (novel) Wild Boy is a 2003 novel by English author Jill Dawson, published