A Child of the Jago

by Arthur Morrison

"A Child of the Jago" by Arthur Morrison is a novel published in 1896. It follows young Dicky Perrott growing up in the Old Jago, a fictional slum in London's East End. Surrounded by poverty, violence, and crime, Dicky navigates a brutal world where survival means theft and betrayal. When a clergyman offers him a chance at honest work, hope flickers briefly—but the slum's grip proves difficult to escape in this stark portrait of Victorian London's underclass.