Oliver Twist is born into a life of poverty and misfortune in a workhouse in an unnamed town. Orphaned almost from his first breath by his mother's death in childbirth and his father's unexplained absence, Oliver is meagrely provided for under the terms of the 'Poor Law', and spends the first nine years of his life at a baby farm in the 'care' of a woman named Mrs. Mann. Oliver is brought up with little food and few comforts. Around the time of