Books Great Expectations

One of the most celebrated and influential novels of the past two centuries tells the vivid and unforgettable coming-of-age story of the orphan Pip

In the marsh country of Victorian England, young Pip lives with his sister and her husband, the kindly blacksmith Joe, eking out a hardscrabble life. Pip’s one true aspiration is to apprentice for Joe and become a blacksmith himself, a dream that sustains him and gives him hope. But though he doesn’t know it, Pip’s fates are about to turn.

Alone in a graveyard one night, he encounters a grizzled and mud-smeared escaped convict. Dragging a heavy shackle from an injured leg, the man demands that Pip steal him food and help him remove the clanging iron. Cowed, Pip accommodates his commands without resistance. It isn’t until years later, after Pip has forged a tender relationship with the eccentric Mrs. Havisham, fallen into unexpected prosperity in London, and found himself gripped by love for the charming-yet-fickle Estella, that the true consequences of that night in the graveyard finally come to light.

Celebrated for its vibrant characters, engrossing plot, and universal themes of ambition and hope, Great Expectations stands as a pillar of Victorian literature and a preeminent entry in the Dickensian oeuvre.