Oliver Twist, a meek, mild young boy, is born in the workhouse and spends his early years there until, finding the audacity to ask for more food, he is made to leave. Apprenticed to an undertaker by Mr Bumble, Oliver runs away in desperation and falls in with Fagin an his gang of thieves where he begins his new life in the criminal underworld....

"You love the boy body and soul, plainly, directly, as he loves you..." Lucy has her rigid, middle-class life mapped out for her until she visits Florence with her uptight cousin Charlotte, and finds her neatly ordered existence thrown off balance.

And everyone is sick in bed! All except brave Madeline, who is up and about and feeling just fine. Even Miss Clavel is under the weather, so Madeline's in charge. That means cleaning up, making soup, and taking care of everybody all by herself. But she finds help from a merchant peddling rugs door-t-door. His carpets aren't just great for warming ice-cold feet, they also fly! Now the girls are going on a magical Christmas journey that will surely make them forget all about their sniffles and sneezes.