Great Expectations

Charles Dickens's Great Expectations is at once a superably constructed novel of spellbinding mystery and a profound examination of moral values. An orphan living with his older sister and her kindly husband, Pip is hired by wealthy and embittered Miss Havisham as a companion for her and her beautiful adopted daughter, Estella. His years in service to the Havishams fill his heart with the desire to rise above his station in life. Pip's wish is fulfilled when a mysterious benefactor provides him with 'great expectations'-the means to be tutored as a gentleman. Thrust into London's high-society circles, Pip grows accustomed to a life of leisure, only to find himself lacking as a suitor competing for Estella's favour. After callously discarding everything he once valued for his own selfish pursuits, Pip learns the identity of his patron-a revelation that shatters his very soul. From the agony of Dickens's disenchantment with the Victorian middle class comes a work that gives an added dimension to his matchless genius. With an Introduction by Stanley Weintraub and an Afterword by Annabel Davis-Goff