Latest news with #Twist
Indian Express
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens' gritty tale of social injustice, revisited in 10 frames
'Please, sir, I want some more.' Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist remains one of the most iconic fictional orphans, rivaled perhaps only by JK Rowling's Harry Potter. Set in the underbelly of 19th-century Victorian London, the novel follows the journey of an orphan who is entered into the system in infancy. He is then promptly swallowed up and spit out by that notoriously corrupt, sluggish, and bureaucratic entity: the State. As a ward of an indifferent government, Oliver Twist's simple request for more food, an act of innocent defiance, lands him in a world where he must fight to retain his virtue amid cruelty and exploitation. Dickens' second novel is a powerful indictment of England's broken social safety net, specifically the Poor Laws Amendment Act of 1834. Under these reforms, the impoverished were granted food and clothing only in exchange for labor in dehumanising workhouses. Dickens knew this world intimately. At just twelve, he worked in a blacking factory pasting labels on bottles after his father was jailed for debt. The workhouse, presented as a tool for moral uplift, is a machine of degradation. The legal system is capricious, and even religious figures frequently fail to embody the virtues they preach. Dickens strips away the Victorian fantasy that institutions exist to protect the vulnerable. This installment of 'Lit in 10' distills the serialised novel—published monthly from February 1837 to April 1839—into 10 defining moments that reveal the soul of Oliver Twist. Scroll down for a visual retelling of this literary classic, and when time allows, dive into the original. Its portrait of poverty, justice, and survival in a fractured society remains as powerful today as ever. A child is born in a grim English workhouse to a young woman who dies moments after childbirth. Her name is never recorded. The parish surgeon delivers the child, and a drunken pauper nurse mutters a half-hearted blessing. There are no celebrations, only bureaucratic procedures to welcome his arrival. Mr Bumble, the parish beadle, gives him the name 'Oliver Twist' as part of an alphabetical system (following 'Swubble' and preceding 'Unwin'). 'Badged and ticketed,' the orphaned Oliver is reduced to a number. Fed on a diet of thin gruel and endless sermons, Twist and other boys endure sanctioned suffering. After drawing lots, Twist is chosen to request another portion of food. His plea, 'Please, sir, I want some more,' shocks the authorities and brands him as a troublemaker. The outraged board of guardians decides to remove him from the workhouse, offering five pounds to anyone willing to take him. This moment marks Twist's first resistance to injustice. The iconic scene turns hunger into an act of political defiance. A cruel chimney sweep named Mr Gamfield offers to take Twist as an man known to have 'bruised three or four boys to death.' He wants a small boy to force into narrow chimneys, to get a five-pound bonus. The board, eager to rid themselves of Twist, almost agrees. But Twist's visible terror before the magistrate, his pale face and pleading eyes, spares him. Twist is apprenticed to Mr Sowerberry, an undertaker instead. He sleeps under the counter near empty coffins and eats leftover scraps meant for the dog. For the first time, he earns a wage. When the undertaker's apprentice, Noah Claypole, insults Twist's dead mother, he lashes out in rage. The punishment that follows is swift and brutal. The funeral trade becomes a metaphor, Twist is alive, but surrounded by death in every sense. Beaten, starved, and unwanted, Twist runs away to London. The journey is long, hungry, and dangerous. On the final stretch, he meets Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, a streetwise boy who offers him shelter. The Dodger leads Twist to a new 'home' under Fagin's roof. This is a trap. Twist's new family is a gang of pickpockets overseen by Fagin, who grooms children for theft. Fagin offers food, shelter, and even affection, but at a price. In his den, lined with stolen watches and silk handkerchiefs, Twist is taught to steal without understanding it is a crime. On his first outing, Twist is wrongly accused of pickpocketing a kind gentleman, Mr Brownlow. But instead of punishment, Brownlow offers him refuge. In his home, Twist gets warmth, books, and clean clothes, and feels he might be loved. It is a short interlude of peace. This sanctuary is snatched from him when Fagin's gang violently abducts Twist. Twist is forced to assist in a house burglary by the violent Bill Sikes. Nancy, Sikes's companion, secretly helps Twist and later takes a great risk in informing Mr Brownlow of the boy's whereabouts. She sees her younger self in Twist and in trying to help him, seeks redemption. Sikes, paranoid and cornered, brutally murders Nancy. His descent into guilt and madness mirrors the city's shadows, cloaked, chaotic, inescapable. Hunted by mobs, Sikes accidentally hangs himself trying to flee across a rooftop. The murder of Nancy, though horrific, becomes the event that finally causes the collapse of the criminal world that held Twist captive. Finally, Twist is revealed to be the son of a naval officer and the rightful heir to an inheritance. The people who mistreated or exploited him—Fagin, Sikes and Bumble—are exposed or punished. Mr Brownlow formally adopts Twist. Reading only the plot summary, anyone unfamiliar with the novel would be forgiven for mistaking Oliver Twist as a somewhat grotesque picaresque tale where a young boy, standing in for the archetypal innocent maiden, defends his virtue from villainous predators. Oliver himself may appear a one-dimensional cardboard cutout. So what makes this a literary classic? For me, it is Dickens' empathetic and layered portrayal of criminality. He does not romanticise crime like the popular Newgate novels (named for a London prison that was destroyed in a fire in 1780) of his day. Instead, he draws a realistic portrait of London's seedy underbelly and those who inhabit it. Dickens' criminals are neither evil nor heroes rebelling against an unjust society, they are human beings struggling to survive in an apathetic city. They are people shaped, and often broken, by an uncaring system. Who is the greater criminal: Fagin, who gathers those discarded by society into a makeshift family, or Judge Fang, the cold embodiment of institutional cruelty? One preys on the desperate, the other represents a system that created that desperation. Dickens does not offer easy answers. Fagin is manipulative, yet provides laughter and shelter. Nancy is both kidnapper and protector. Even Bill Sikes, brutal as he is, is more than a monster, he is the product of poverty and pain. In a novel full of morally ambiguous characters, Oliver's unblemished innocence may seem implausible, but perhaps he is not meant to be realistic. Instead, he serves as a moral anchor, a fixed point of purity around which the chaos of the city swirls. Dickens uses caricature and satire to great effect to expose the hypocrisy of respectable society. Now, in the 21st century, Oliver Twist has become a cultural touchstone. Its characters have entered the popular imagination, and its themes have inspired generations of writers and reformers to confront injustice with empathy. It has been adapted both for stage and screen, and the iconic musical, Oliver! (Disclaimer: Lit in 10 aims to distill the essence of great works, not to replace them. To fully experience Dickens' humor, horror, and heart, the original novel is still essential reading.) Aishwarya Khosla is a journalist currently serving as Deputy Copy Editor at The Indian Express. Her writings examine the interplay of culture, identity, and politics. She began her career at the Hindustan Times, where she covered books, theatre, culture, and the Punjabi diaspora. Her editorial expertise spans the Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Punjab and Online desks. She was the recipient of the The Nehru Fellowship in Politics and Elections, where she studied political campaigns, policy research, political strategy and communications for a year. She pens The Indian Express newsletter, Meanwhile, Back Home. Write to her at or You can follow her on Instagram: @ink_and_ideology, and X: @KhoslaAishwarya. ... Read More
Business Wire
07-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Twist Bioscience Expands Express Delivery Turnaround Time to All Gene Fragments Regardless of Format
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ: TWST), a core mid-cap growth and value equity company in the life sciences segment of the health care sector, today accelerated its Express turnaround time for all Twist Gene Fragments with a turnaround time starting at two business days for both adapters off and adaptors on configurations. 'We continue to iterate our manufacturing processes, enhancing and expanding our products to meet our customers' needs,' said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. 'Our customers receive the same high quality Twist Gene Fragments in the format they want, the scale that they need, now with the Express turnaround time regardless of configuration. Leveraging our highly automated workflow and scalable infrastructure, our pricing from seven cents per base pair for all Gene Fragment configurations, with no additional fees, allows transparency, affordability and flexibility to enable myriad applications across industries.' Twist Gene Fragments are designed to simplify the process of ordering synthetic DNA by offering a reliable and cost-effective solution for researchers. Fragments ship within two to four business days, for one or tens of thousands of Gene Fragments. Twist provides flexible delivery formats including tubes, plates, normalization and resuspension, as well as adapter addition, without impact to turnaround time or cost. Twist will offer gene fragments without adaptors as a standard offering, eliminating the fee previously charged for removing adaptors. At Twist, we deliver Gene Fragments quickly, with a typical processing time of just 2–4 business days before turning your product over to the shipping carrier. This rapid turnaround time reflects the efficiency of our state-of-the-art facilities, ensuring orders are manufactured quickly and reliably. With the lowest industry error rate of 1:7500, researchers can reduce the time spent picking colonies or troubleshooting mutations, improving confidence in downstream applications. Twist Gene Fragments Twist Gene Fragments are universally compatible with all downstream cloning methods, allowing for seamless integration into a wide array of applications. They can be utilized in protein engineering, antibody discovery, pathway engineering, functional genomics, diagnostic assays and other fields. Twist Gene Fragments are customizable and have no order limit. Turnaround time for Gene Fragments 0.3-5.0kb in length starts at two business days regardless of configuration. About Twist Bioscience Corporation At Twist Bioscience, we work in service of customers who are changing the world for the better. In fields such as medicine, agriculture and industrial chemicals, by using our synthetic DNA tools, our customers are developing ways to better lives and improve the sustainability of the planet. The faster our customers succeed, the better for all of us, and Twist Bioscience is uniquely positioned to help accelerate their efforts. Our innovative silicon-based DNA Synthesis Platform provides precision at a scale that is otherwise unavailable to our customers. Our platform technologies overcome inefficiencies and enable cost-effective, rapid, precise, high-throughput synthesis, sequencing and therapeutics discovery, providing both the quality and quantity of the tools they need to most rapidly realize the opportunity ahead. For more information about our products and services, please visit Follow us on LinkedIn | X | YouTube | Instagram | Bluesky Twist Bioscience Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the continued improvements to our manufacturing processes and products to meet future customer needs, and the expected benefits of such improvements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that may cause Twist's actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the ability to attract new customers and retain and grow sales from existing customers; the ability of Twist to achieve sufficient revenue to achieve or maintain positive cash flow from operations or profitability in any given period; ability to obtain financing when necessary; risks and uncertainties of rapidly changing technologies and extensive competition in synthetic biology that could make the products Twist is developing obsolete or non-competitive; ability to expand DNA synthesis manufacturing capacity; dependence on one supplier for a critical component; dependence on key personnel; additional regulations that could increase Twist's costs and delay commercialization efforts; changes in U.S. trade policies and other trade actions that could result in increased costs and supply chain disruptions; and the ability to maintain and enforce intellectual property protection. For a description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to Twist's business in general, see Twist's risk factors set forth in Twist's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2024 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 18, 2024 and subsequent filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and Twist specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Irish Daily Mirror
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Next shoppers rave about 'flattering' €35 T-shirt dress that 'will never date'
Next shoppers have been praising a "comfortable" holiday dress that was also called "very flattering" and is made from a lightweight material that "keeps you cool" in the heat. It's proved so popular with shoppers that people have gone back to buy multiple colours. The Twist Short Sleeved T-Shirt Summer Dress starts from €34.50. It is available in sizes 6 to 26 as well as having both petite and tall fitting options to make sure the dress fits most body types perfectly, reports The Mirror. It comes in six different style options, with plain colours including black, khaki green, plum purple and red (all €34.50). Next also offers two versions with a pattern, including a white and black print (€38) and a navy blue with white striped version (€39). Similar styles are available at other stores - such as the M&S Pure Cotton Striped Mini T-Shirt Dress (€34 -available in store but currently not available to order online in Ireland), Wallis Premium Jersey T-shirt Dress (via Debenhams from €34.50) or New Look's Black Cotton T-Shirt Mini Dress (€17). However, Next had lots of shoppers ordering this Twist Short Sleeved T-Shirt Summer Dress. Across every style, the dress itself has over 150 reviews, with most awarding a flawless five-star rating. The most popular (based on those ratings) was the khaki green version, however, shoppers loved these dresses so much that a few bought multiple styles. One shopper said: "This is a dress that will never date and will be useful for many occasions. It is comfortable to wear, and the twisted front makes it a bit more interesting." Another added: "Excellent buy. Material good quality and a very flattering style." A third wrote: "Loose fitting and quite thin material but great for a holiday in the daytime or could be dressed up for nighttime." Someone else posted: "I only wanted the khaki version of this dress but for the price I thought why not try the black too. I'm so pleased I did. Very flattering for someone who is super conscious of my tummy area." A fifth put in their review: "Brilliant fit! Sits snuggly and it holds in all the right places, it really complements my figure and I got lots of nice comments at the event I wore it to!" And, another shared: "Fantastic easy wear summer dress. Very flattering and keeps you cool." Some did have issues and had to send the dress back to Next. One claimed: "Returned as neck too high and felt uncomfortable." Another suggested the dress was "shapeless" and others found issue with where the fashion store has placed the twist knot. In addition to the fit and feel, shoppers who went for the plain red option claimed in the reviews it arrived and was "more of a bright orange."
Irish Examiner
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Summer books catch-up: 20 of the best novels so far in 2025
1. The Children of Eve by John Connolly There are few more enjoyable crime series characters than Detective Charlie Parker, John Connolly's former cop whose cases invariably find him knee-deep in the supernatural in picturesque Maine. This time out of the traps, he's tasked with finding an ex-soldier on the run who has apparently abducted the children of a mob boss. 2. Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way by Elaine Feeney Elaine Feeney is one of Ireland's most talented novelists. In her third novel, Claire, moves back from London to Athenry following her mother's death, needing to care for her dying father. When her old flame moves into a house close by, it opens up a pandora's box of personal and family drama. 3. Flesh by David Szalay Flesh is the sixth book from the Booker Prize nominee David Szalay. He writes brilliant, meandering novels. His latest story is about a teenage Hungarian boy whose life over the course of decades takes a downward spiral owing to misfortune. 4. Fun and Games by Patrick McHugh Patrick McHugh's debut novel – following on from a well-received short story collection, Pure Gold, in 2021 – has been hailed. It follows the tribulations of a 17-year-old boy on an island off the coast of Mayo over the summer of 2009, a time of romance and ambiguous friendship. 5. Stories of Ireland by Brian Friel If you're looking to pack something in your suitcase for holidays, look no further than Brian Friel's short story collection published this year by Penguin, which is in paperback and mercifully slim. Most of the 13 stories were published in the New Yorker in their day. Each one is a marvel. Patrick McHugh's Fun and Games; Eimear McBride's The City Changes its Face 6. The City Changes Its Face by Eimear McBride Eimear McBride's quasi-sequel to the brilliant The Lesser Bohemians re-unites us with the actors Eily, 20, and Stephen, 40. It's set in London in the mid-1990s. Stephen's teenage daughter has resurfaced. Something terrible has happened, which will have consequences. 7. Air by John Boyne Air is the fourth instalment in John Boyne's elements series (following on from Water, Earth, Fire), novellas which examine abuse in different circumstances. In Air, a father, 40, is 30,000 feet above ground, in a passenger plane, flying with his teenage son. Both are trying to mend their broken lives. 8. The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O'Connor Joseph O'Connor returns to wartime Rome – scene for his previous novel, My Father's House, about wartime hero Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty – for a second instalment. Again, the theme is about escape lines for refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe, as Contessa Giovanna Landini, member of the activist group 'The Choir', tries to evade the unwanted attention of a Gestapo chief. 9. Twist by Colum McCann Colum McCann has a gift for storytelling. In Twist, Anthony Fennell, a journalist, in pursuit of a story to do with fibre optics, finds himself on board a boat off the west coast of Africa and in thrall to the ship's captain. When he disappears, Fennell goes hunting for him. John Boyne's Air; Emma Donoghue's The Paris Express 10. The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue The brilliant Emma Donaghue, author of Room and Oscar-nominated screenwriter of its movie adaptation, goes back in time to Paris in 1895 for her latest novel, a story inspired by the moments leading up to a fatal train crash, and the lives of several of the train's passengers. 11. Eden's Shore by Oisín Fagan Oisín Fagan's second novel has been acclaimed. His character Angel Kelly is a dreamer. In the late eighteenth century, he sets sail from Dublin, via Liverpool, intent on living in a commune in Brazil but ends up, unwittingly, in the middle of the slave trade, a mutiny and a colonial dispute, amongst other capers. 12. The Dark Hours by Amy Jordan Amy Jordan's crime novel, The Dark Hours, has been lauded by the New York Times. In 2024, Julia Harte, a retired Garda detective, gets a call from her old Superintendent. Two women have been murdered in Cork, in identical circumstances to a case she worked on 30 years earlier, forcing Julia to tackle some demons and hunt down a vicious serial killer. Amy Jordan's The Dark Hours; Patricia Scanlan's City Girls Forever 13. City Girls Forever by Patricia Scanlan The first three books in the City Girl series by the popular Patricia Scanlan were written in the 1990s. Dubliner Devlin Delaney and her best friends, Caroline and Maggie, return in middle age for more adventure and heartbreak, weighed down by their blended families, aging parents and sibling rivalries, but buoyed by friendship. Some of This is True by Michelle McDonagh 14. Some of This Is True by Michelle McDonagh On a January morning, a body is discovered at the bottom of the Wishing Steps at Blarney Castle. The mother of the dead tourist girl, who came to Ireland looking for her father, travels over from Boston. She's convinced her daughter's death wasn't an accident, setting in train an investigation that divides the local community. 15. The Bureau by Eoin McNamee The Bureau is perhaps Eoin McNamee's most personal novel yet, as it features his father as a central character in the action. It's a story of love and death during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, set along the border involving the vivacious Lorraine and Paddy, who's caught up in smuggling and money-laundering. Cork Fiction Highlights William Wall's Writers Anonymous; Catherine Ryan Howard's Burn after Reading 1. Writers Anonymous by William Wall: During the pandemic lockdown in 2020, Jim, an Irish novelist, organises an anonymous online writers group to pass the time. Things get messy when one of the writers starts drip-feeding him details about the suspicious death of Jim's childhood friend, which draws the reader back into the teenage world of a seaside Irish village in 1980 and a crime that must be resolved. A magnificent mystery novel. 2. Camarade by Theo Dorgan: Poet and writer Theo Dorgan has just released a philosophical thriller. A teenager abandons his life in Cork, having killed a policeman in a revenge plot. He flees to Paris, during a time of tumult, May '68 and camaraderie. Several decades later, he begins writing his memoir, which forces him to address the seminal event in his life. 3. Burn After Reading by Catherine Ryan Howard: Catherine Ryan Howard's novels are always page-turners. In Burn After Reading, Emily, a ghostwriter, gets a gig working on the book of a possible murderer who might be about to admit his guilt. Emily harbours her own secret, one of many twists in this tale. Catherine Kirwan's The Seventh Body; Louise Hegarty's Fair Play 4. The Seventh Body by Catherine Kirwan: Excavation comes to a halt on a Cork building site when six bodies are discovered. Therein lie the remnants of men from centuries ago. When the remains of a seventh person, a female less cold in the grave, emerges, a historical find turns into a murder case Detective Garda Alice McCann is desperate to solve, despite interference from her superiors. 5. Fair Play by Louise Hegarty: Louise Hegarty grew up in Glanmire, Co Cork. In her debut novel, a group of friends gather on New Year's Eve 2022 to celebrate Benjamin's birthday with a murder mystery-themed party. Friendships and affairs blossom and fray as the night unfolds. In the morning, they wake to find Benjamin is dead and so begins the real murder mystery investigation. Next week: 20 non-fiction tips
Daily Mirror
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Next's 'very flattering' £24 T-shirt dress that 'will never date'
People said the comfy item would be perfect during the hot summer months - both in the UK or on holiday abroad Next shoppers have been praising a "comfortable" holiday dress that was also called "very flattering" and is made from a lightweight material that "keeps you cool" in the heat. It's proved so popular with shoppers that people have gone back to buy multiple colours. The Twist Short Sleeved T-Shirt Summer Dress starts from £24. It is available in sizes 6 to 26 as well as having both petite and tall fitting options to make sure the dress fits most body types perfectly. It comes in six different style options, with plain colours including black, khaki green, plum purple and red (all £24). Next also offers two versions with a pattern, including a white and black print (£26) and a navy blue with white striped version (£28). Similar styles are available at other stores - such as the M&S Pure Cotton Striped Mini T-Shirt Dress (£25), Wallis Premium Jersey T-shirt Dress (via Debenhams from £22) or New Look's Black Sequin T-Shirt Mini Dress (was £29.99, now £16). However, Next had lots of shoppers ordering this Twist Short Sleeved T-Shirt Summer Dress. Across every style, the dress itself has over 150 reviews, with most awarding a flawless five-star rating. The most popular (based on those ratings) was the khaki green version, however, shoppers loved these dresses so much that a few bought multiple styles. One shopper said: " This is a dress that will never date and will be useful for many occasions. It is comfortable to wear, and the twisted front makes it a bit more interesting." Another added: "Excellent buy. Material good quality and a very flattering style." A third wrote: "Loose fitting and quite thin material but great for a holiday in the daytime or could be dressed up for nighttime." Someone else posted: "I only wanted the khaki version of this dress but for the price I thought why not try the black too. I'm so pleased I did. Very flattering for someone who is super conscious of my tummy area." A fifth put in their review: "Brilliant fit! Sits snuggly and it holds in all the right places, it really complements my figure and I got lots of nice comments at the event I wore it to!" And, another shared: "Fantastic easy wear summer dress. Very flattering and keeps you cool." Some did have issues and had to send the dress back to Next. One claimed: "Returned as neck too high and felt uncomfortable." Another suggested the dress was "shapeless" and others found issue with where the fashion store has placed the twist knot. In addition to the fit and feel, shoppers who went for the plain red option claimed in the reviews it arrived and was "more of a bright orange."
