"Fagin the Thief"

Allison Epstein earned her MFA in fiction from Northwestern University and a BA in creative writing from the University of Michigan. A Michigan native, she now lives in Chicago, where she enjoys good theater, bad puns, and fancy jackets.

Epstein is the author of historical novels including A Tip for the Hangman, Let the Dead Bury the Dead, and Fagin the Thief.

Epstein applied the Page 69 Test to Fagin the Thief and reported the following::

From page 69:

He ought to have left the first stone at her grave, ought to have sat shiva in their empty flat for seven days. So much he ought to have done, but what does any of it matter? His mother is already gone. Everyone who ever cared for Jacob has left him. It’s his turn to leave now, if leaving will keep him alive. Better to cut his losses and care for himself, because this is the price that must be paid when someone else cares for you, the searing, ever-expanding pain when they inevitably disappear. Iron hearts can’t break. It’s a lesson he will remember.

This paragraph from page 69 is one of the core moments in Fagin the Thief that show my character Jacob Fagin developing his maladaptive worldview. This is literally the paragraph where all of his problems start, and they will mess him up and make him worse for every moment of the novel that remains. So well done, Page 69 Test! A+.

In this moment, Jacob is sixteen years old, and his mother Leah has just died. Up until this moment, she was the only person in the world who cared for him unconditionally. His father died before he was born, and though he has friends in his corner of London, these are largely transactional relationships. Leah is the only person who cared about Jacob because of who he was, not because of his luck or skill or talent as a pickpocket and troublemaker.

Following her death, Jacob decides no one will ever get that close to him again, because the pain of their inevitable abandonment isn’t worth the comfort that comes before. But this will turn out to be easier said than done. He’s only human, and though intellectually he knows the risks of being vulnerable, there’s still something in the animal part of him that wants to connect, to be seen.

After this paragraph, Jacob sets off on his own. What happens to take him from this moment of decision to the ringleader of a gang of child thieves we all know from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens? Well, that would be telling…

Visit Allison Epstein's website.

My Book, The Movie: A Tip for the Hangman.

The Page 69 Test: A Tip for the Hangman.

Q&A with Allison Epstein.

My Book, The Movie: Let the Dead Bury the Dead.

The Page 69 Test: Let the Dead Bury the Dead.

Writers Read: Allison Epstein (October 2023).

Writers Read: Allison Epstein.

--Marshal Zeringue