#20: Terry Pratchett, Dodger

[kareila]

This is a charming YA homage to all things Dickensian. Dodger is an orphan who is enterprising, clever, and more than a bit lucky. When his sense of honor causes him to leap to the defense of an abused woman escaping from a carriage, he gets caught up in a web of intrigue that sees him elevated to a new station in life, where he becomes familiar with the likes of Charles Dickens and Benjamin Disraeli. There is quite a bit of Victorian slang to navigate, and Dodger's incomprehension of the more polite ways of speaking is the major source of humor here. In every other respect, it's a breezy adventure tale.