Exclusive interview with author Lori Langdon discussing her new novel, a reboot of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
By Gabrielle Pantera
“Olivia Twist is a love letter to characters that first entered my life as a child in the musical, Oliver!, and later in Dickens’ classic Oliver Twist,” says author Lori Langdon. “After my grandma took me to see a re-release of the movie musical, I became obsessed with the story. I’d sit in my room and listen to the double album soundtrack for hours, making up new adventures for the characters. In my favorite daydream, Oliver had been born a girl and was disguising her true gender as a safety measure. I imagined that the two (Olivia and the Artful Dodger) became embroiled in endless mysteries and eventually fell in love.”
Olivia Twist was born in a workhouse and raised as a boy among thieving London street gangs. She’s tough and smart. After she gets in trouble she’s taken to her uncle’s to live. She’s raised to be a lady, but there is still a bit of the street urchin in her. Jack MacCarron was known as the Artful Dodger when Olivia first knew him, when they were both struggling to survive on the mean streets of London. Now working with his “aunt”, a society matron, Jack steals from members of society. When Olivia and Jack come face to face, she seems familiar. Does he know her?
“As a teen, I devoured every bit of historical fiction I could get my hands on, including the classic Dickens’ novel, Oliver Twist,” says Langdon. “I quickly realized two things. The Artful Dodger was not the hero I had envisioned, and the film had missed a major character, Oliver’s half-brother, the villainous Monks.”
“Olivia is living the double life of a lady in high society, while sneaking out at night disguised as a boy to help a destitute group of orphans,” says Langdon. “Jack has teamed up with an old widow who turned him into a gentleman so that they could rob the rich. I wanted to give the characters a more modern sense of agency within the context of Dickens’ darkly beautiful London. Olivia Twist is a gender-swapping continuation of sorts. We see flashbacks that are nods to the original story, but the bulk of it is set when Jack and Olivia are young adults.”
Langdon describes doing historical research as both an inspiration and a rabbit hole.
“I enjoy reading about the customs, culture, and daily lives of different eras and can waste too much time searching for a specific detail,” says Langdon. “As with most historical fiction, I learned far more about the era during my research than I include in the novel itself.”
Olivia Twist is Langdon’s sixth published novel with Blink/HarperCollins. Her first publishing experience was the four-book, co-authored Doon series, a reimagining of the musical Brigadoon. The first book in the Doon series won RWA’s Great Expectations contest for best YA novel in 2012. Langdon also wrote the YA thriller Gilt Hollow. The Doon series has been optioned for film by Dreamstreet and Lonetree Entertainment. Film rights to Olivia Twist are under consideration with the same company.
Sara Bierling is Langdon’s editor at Blink YA Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.
“Olivia Twist will be sold in Target Stores across the nation,” says Langdon. “I never could have accomplished that with a self-published book.”
Langdon is currently writing her next novel, about one of the secondary characters from Olivia Twist, an orphan named Brit.
Langdon lives in Dayton, Ohio, where she was born. Her website is www.lorielangdon.com. She’s active on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. She has book signings coming up in Ohio, Kentucky, Los Angeles and Beijing.
Olivia Twist by Lorie Langdon. Hardcover: 336 pages, Publisher: Blink (March 6, 2018), Language: English. ISBN-13: 978-0310763413 $18.99
