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 | DISPLACED and DENOUNCED Charles Dickens Fan Fiction – Oliver Twist and The Tale of Two Cities in the 21st century! ASIN: B0H62HNCDY More info on Displaced and Denounced Amazon Kindle locations: UK – USA – Germany – France – Spain Italy – Netherlands – Japan – Brazil – Canada Mexico – Australia – India |
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Elevator pitch – Displaced and Denounced
Two novels of Charles Dickens are reworked within modern settings and language. These are not created to be more woke, but to illustrate that his storytelling and characterisations can still resonate today. Removing the barriers of the almost two-hundred-year-old language and the Victorian setting helps to accentuate the skill of his writing and his story-telling strengths.
Displaced: Olive is based on Oliver Twist.
Olive Turner has been lost deep within today’s modern care service. She stoically prepares for transition into work and adulthood, but she wants more. She escapes with a fellow resident, but subsequently finds herself abandoned.
She decides to travel to London. En route, Savvy befriends and grooms her for a Bulgarian gang. She is trained in begging and shoplifting, but she is promptly arrested and placed in a children’s home. Meanwhile, in the background competing family connections emerge with very different ambitions for her.
She is seized by gang members, Georgi, Savvy and Sally. Commissioned by a mysterious individual, Dragan plots for her to become embroiled in a burglary in order to discredit her. She is attacked during the burglary and left for dead by Georgi. She seeks help from the house they had burgled. Surprisingly, she is befriended and made welcome.
Back at the gang’s base, Sally hears of threats against Olive. She decides to tip off Olive’s supporters. This triggers violence and death, and sparks the denouement.
Denounced: A Tale of Two Courts is based upon A Tale of Two Cities.
Darius Mason is an Irano-British language teacher who is at the centre of A Tale of Two Courts.
The story begins with the release of Mehdi Ghassemi from the notorious Evin prison of Tehran. He has been imprisoned for eighteen years. His daughter, Tara Argon, arrives to find him in a weakened physical and mental state and escorts him backto London.
Later in London, Darius finds himself at the Central Criminal Court on a spurious charge of treason and espionage. The case is thrown out when his identification is discredited. Darius and his lawyers become regular companions as Mehdi’s health improves.
Darius cautiously asks for Tara’s hand, recognising the exceptional closeness of father and daughter. He wishes to reveal the real name of his family in Iran, but Mehdi makes him wait until the day of the wedding. Clearly, he fears the impact of this revelation.
True to his promise, Darius tells Mehdi his true name. The wedding proceeds and the couple depart on honeymoon. However, Mehdi falls back into the fugue state he was in when released from jail. He recovers before the couple’s return and life moves on.
His Iranian family connections lure Darius back to Tehran where the Dehdaris, a zealous couple, denounce him to the Republic of Iran. He is committed to Evin prison which, of course, had previously stolen eighteen years of his father-in-law’s life.
Mehdi and Tara follow him to Tehran, and Mehdi uses his fame as a notorious Evin-released prisoner to free Darius. However, the Dehdaris are tenacious. They condemn him with new evidence and this time Darius is sentenced to public hanging – the following day!
His friends and family work feverishly to save him.
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Synopsis – Displaced and Denounced
[Olive]
DISPLACED: OLIVE
This is a modern retelling of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. The tale is still relevant today in that social care continues to fail many of its recipients, But Dickens Victorian settings and complex use of language can be something of a barrier to many modern readers.
The novel follows Olive Turner, abandoned by her parents she is admitted into the care system in England’s Midlands. She is shunted around many facilities until, aged sixteen, she is placed into a half-way house which is populated by a group of interesting youngsters.
The facility finds her a job as a hairdressing junior, but she asks for more. She is found a new role as a trainee barista at a coffee shop where she is bullied by another orphan. As a result, she falls through the system again. Another resident gives her the impetus to run away but soon abandons her. She decides to head for London.
She hitchhikes towards the city with no fixed goal. At an M4 motorway service station, she is smoothly ‘hooked’ by a dodgy chancer, Savvy Rowe. As they share a lift into London, Savvy is already plotting a crime involving Ed Warden, the driver who gives them the ride.
Olive is delivered into a Bulgarian gang run by Dragan and his fixer, Georgi Stoykow. Olive is first taught to beg, but asks for more. Promoted into their shoplifting gang, new security measures at an Oxford Street store lead to her arrest – and charge. The court despatches her to a secure home in South London where she meets Fiona Greening, a helpful volunteer worker who feels drawn into helping her. Fearing she will reveal his location and the gang’s activities, Dragan manages to track her down. He arranges for Georgi, Savvy and Sally to seize her.
Georgi is planning a burglary south of the Thames and he needs someone small to get them into the property. Dragan has ulterior motives in proposing Olive for the role. He is working with a mysterious individual who wants Dragan to implicate Olive in crime. She duly breaks in but is attacked by a resident and wounded. Georgi abandons her. Olive returns to the burgled house where she is cared for by Rose Gardener and her aunt, Mrs Wright.
On a subsequent burglary, Georgi puts Savvy’s ‘mark’, Ed Warden, into hospital. He was asking too many questions. Dragan meets with Georgi to discuss this loss of potential for further burglaries. He asks Georgi to instruct Sally to investigate Olive’s situation, still fearing that she might betray them. Sally overhears Dragan’s conversation with Brotherson, the mysterious individual who has some interest in Olive.
Later, Sally overhears Brotherson again and promptly seeks out Rose to inform her that Olive is threatened. Rose pleads with Sally to let her help, but Sally refuses. Rose offers her money but this too is rejected. They do agree to meet again.
Olive has caught up with Fiona. The group plans to meet with Sally, but she is a no-show. Dragan has become suspicious of Sally, and instructs someone to follow her to the second appointment. Dragan tells Georgi of Sally’s betrayal and he storms off in a rage and kills her.
Fiona forcibly brings Brotherson to her office. She uncovers his objective to discredit Olive and keep her inheritance. She threatens him with police action unless he halts his plotting against Olive.
Dragan’s gang is raided. Those who escape gather at an unfinished house in Brick Lane. First his dog, Buster, and then a distraught Georgi arrive. The police arrive at the house. Georgi has a fall while escaping and as he staggers around, he is hit by a night bus. The bus driver finds Buster either licking, or perhaps feeding, on Georgi’s crushed skull.
Dragan is deported to Bulgaria where his old enemies have been alerted to his arrival.
Brotherson capitulates, and finally Olive learns the details of her family history.
DENOUNCED: A TALE OF TWO COURTS
This is a modern retelling of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Here the two cities are London and Tehran, the guillotine becomes a public hanging by mobile crane.
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. We are first reminded of the stark contrast between the Shah’s reign and subsequent life under the Republic of Iran.
Tara Argon is assisted by an Irano-British journalist, Gil Corry, to meet her father, Mehdi Ghassemi, an Iranian chemist. They plan to welcome him back to freedom after his eighteen years’ imprisonment in the notorious Evin jail in Tehran.
Mehdi has been released into the household of Ebrahim and Soroya Dehdari, carpet sellers with strong militia connections. Ebrahim has known Mehdi from the time before his prison term. The pair find Mehdi subdued and monosyllabic following his long imprisonment. Mehdi’s daughter Tara, whose real name is Tahmineh Ghassemi, takes him back to London where he can recover.
Later in London, Darius Mason appears before the Central Criminal Court, aka The Old Bailey. He is an Anglo-Iranian from an ancient noble family who has been charged with treason. His defence barrister is Alexander Fischer Chambers. Darius works as a language tutor in London.
Previously, Darius had been approached by two British intelligence officers who requested details of his father, his uncle and their connections. When Darius was not forthcoming, they became threatening and in anger they had trumped up the dubious treason charges. Alexander’s assistant barrister is Theodore Churchill who bears a striking resemblance to Darius. Alexander uses this similarity to discredit the identification of Darius and he is freed. Theo proves to be a world-weary drinker, not at all sociable and very cynical about society. He ponders whether one should instinctively like someone who resembles you.
In Iran, Mahmoud Mazandarani, uncle to Darius and a local politician, is running his ‘surgery’ in the city of Sārī. He leaves for his villa in the north in an armoured Range Rover. Exiting the vehicle, he sees someone at the gate who shouts, ‘The Devil awaits you!’
Mahmoud welcomes his nephew to the villa. They have an awkward conversation and part on bad terms. That night Mahmoud is murdered. Following his mother’s wishes, Darius rejects his inheritance. He instead pledges it will be used for the good of the local people.
Life moves on for the Ghassemi household in London. Mehdi appears now to be back to normal though his friends fear a relapse. Darius has settled in London and approaches Mehdi to enquire if he may ask Tara to marry him. Mehdi agrees, but asks Darius not to reveal his real name until the day of the wedding, perhaps realising it will be contentious.
Back in Tehran the Dehdaris are provoked by a British spy who tells them of Tara’s plans to marry in London. He reveals her husband-to-be as the nephew of Mahmoud Mazandarani. Ebrahim Dehdari travels up to the Mazandarani villa, plunders and burns it. He captures Asraf Turani who was left in charge of the villa. In his role as leader of a militia, Ebrahim also enters Evin prison, seeks out Mehdi’s cell and discovers a document hidden in the mattress.
The marriage proceeds in London. On the morning of the marriage Darius makes good his promise to tell Mehdi his true name. The ceremony proceeds, but after the couple depart for their honeymoon, Mehdi collapses into his previous fugue state. He fortunately recovers before their return, but there is concern over his future fragility.
Darius seeks to dissuade Gil, the journalist, from visiting Iran as it has become a dangerous place. While at Gil’s office he sees a note addressed to himself in his unrevealed Iranian name. Darius volunteers to deliver it. He opens it to find a letter from Turani who had been imprisoned and threatened with execution for the sins of the Mazandaranis. Darius feels obliged to return to Tehran to save Turani who was a loyal servant to his family. However, this is a trap set by Dehdari to have Darius imprisoned and executed. We learn that he is the target of a very vindictive Soroya, Dehdari’s wife. She has sworn to expunge his whole family.
On arrival at Tehran airport, he is arrested and committed to Evin prison. Gil is surprised when Mehdi and Tara arrive in Tehran. Mehdi draws on the popular support he has as a released Evin prisoner. He marches at the head of a supportive mob to try to release Darius.
Mehdi shows Tara a place where Darius might see her at a particular time of day from inside the prison. She goes there every day, dressed in her chador. She occasionally takes her daughter and her father with her. Darius confirms that he has seen her there.
Darius appears before the Revolutionary Council. Mehdi has worked hard and his speech in defence of Darius swings the mood of the public gallery. Darius is released and escorted by a cheering crowd back to their rental property. However, later that evening a group arrives to rearrest Darius on new charges. In Tehran, Miss Parsley encounters her brother, Cyrus, a spy who is operating under cover as an Evin guard. Surprisingly, Theo Churchill arrives and insists on some time alone with Cyrus.
The court hears the case against Darius. Dehdari has handed over the document he discovered in Mehdi’s mattress at Evin. The letter tells a dreadful tale of the death of two young people at the hands of the family of Darius. Mehdi reveals that as a result he was denounced and imprisoned by the murderous brothers to guarantee his silence. In that note Mehdi condemns ‘the brothers, and all members of their family!’
Denounced by his friend and father-in-law, Darius is sentenced to execution the next day. Mehdi leaves to plea with his contacts in an effort to gain a reprieve for Darius. Theo also travels around Tehran setting his plans in place. He visits the Dehdari carpet store and overhears Soroya’s vehemence.
Darius is trying to rationalise his death which is scheduled for the following day. He contemplates the actuality of an execution. It is a shock when Theo arrives in his cell. Theo drugs Darius, and has blackmailed Cyrus to push him out of the jail in a wheelchair. Theo, then himself, remains in the cell to face execution.
Gil has all the necessary documentation to rush the family out of Iran, but the tension during their departure proves intense. Meanwhile, unaware of their departure, Soraya is trying to build her case against Mehdi and Tara. She visits their rental. Finding they have vacated it, she loses her temper and, while defending himself, the rental owner accidentally kills her.
Five condemned prisoners are led out onto the makeshift gallows. Theo calms one of the other prisoners before resignedly looking at those gathered to watch his execution. He thinks,
‘It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done.
It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.’
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