An absorbing mystery as well as a morality tale, the story of Pip, a poor village lad, and his expectations of wealth is Dickens at his most deliciously readable. The cast of characters includes kindly Joe Gargery, the loyal convict Abel Magwitch and the haunting Miss Havisham. If you have heartstrings, count on them being tugged.

I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.' Great Expectations charts the progress of Pip from childhood through often painful experiences to adulthood, as he moves from the Kent marshes to busy, commercial London, encoutering a variety of extraordinary characters ranging from Magwitch, the excaped convict, to Miss Havisham, locked up with her unhappy past and living with her ward, the arrogant, beautiful Estella. In this compelling story, Dickens shows the dangers of being driven by desire for wealth and social status. Pip must establish his own sense of self against the plans which others seem to have for him, and thus discover a firm set of values and priorities. Whether such values will allow one to prosper in the complex world of early Victorian England is, however, the major question posed by Great Expectations, one of Dicken's most fascinating, and disturbing, novels. This edition use the text of the Clarendon edition, with a new Introduction and Explanatory Notes. The Appendices give the original, discarded ending, Dicken's brief working notes, and the serial instalments and chapter divisions in different editions.

This book contains introduction and Notes by Dr John Bowen, Keele University and Illustrations by Marcus Stone. Considered by many to be Dicken's finest novel, "Great Expectations" traces the growth of the book's narrator, Philip Pirrip (Pip), from a boy of shallow dreams to a man with depth of character. From its famous dramatic opening on the bleak Kentish marshes, the story abounds with some of Dicken's most memorable characters. Among them are the kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery, the mysterious convict Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Haversham and her beautiful ward Estella, Pip's good-hearted room-mate Herbert Pocket and the pompous Pumblechook. As Pip unravels the truth behind his own 'great expectations' in his quest to become a gentleman, the mysteries of the past and the convolutions of fate through a series of thrilling adventures serve to steer him towards maturity and his most important discovery of all - the truth about himself.

Kate Flint is University Lecturer in Victorian and Modern English Literature, and Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford. She is the author of several books, and the editor of Trollope's Can You Forgive Her and Woolf's Jacob's Room in World's Classics. Margaret Cardwell has edited The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Martin Chuzzlewit in World's Classics.

2008-05-01 My first Dickens

I have to admit that this is the first book by Charles Dickens that I have read. Of course, I know all the stories but have never read one, even at school. So I found myself being intrigued by what I appeared to be missing in successful novels and authors so I thought it about time that I took one up. I know this is an old classic with many reviews and many great admirers but I will just write my review based on what I thought of the story. I took an immediate dislike to the main character Pip but I can't really say why. I found him to be selfish and the part that he played with the convict was only because he was scared not to help. I found it confusing that each character seemed to have different names depending on who is refereeing to them. Great Expectation is full of irony and plot is complex in establishing and solving mysteries. I did find the middle part of the story slightly boring and I didn't really understand where it was leading but I feel that it was well worth the read and will now read more of Dickens work.