' The Jago had got him & it held him fast.' In the worst of London's East End slums in an area called the Jago young Dicky Perrott is used to a life of poverty crime & violence. Gang warfare is the order of the day deaths are commonplace & thieving the only way to survive. At first Dicky dreams of becoming a High Mobsman
- one of the aristocrats of Jago crime
- but the efforts of Father Sturt to improve conditions offer him a different path. Dicky's journey takes him through a savage but colourful community of pickpockets & cosh-carriers where the police only enter in threes & where murder erupts with an unusual horror & intimacy. Morrison's portrayal of the Victorian underclass & its underworld drew attention to the bleak prospects for children living in such surroundings & it is a classic of slum-fiction. In this edition Peter Miles provides a rich contextual background to the creation of the novel & the social debates to which it contributed. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more.