Great Expectations (PAPERBACK)  | Released: 8-June-2016

“I loved her against reason, against promise . . . against all discouragement that could be.” Taken to the Satis House by his Uncle Pumblechook one day, Pip, a young orphan, meets a wealthy, eccentric spinster, Miss Havisham, and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward, Estella. Pip instantly falls in love with her. But in the days to come, he is constantly reminded that Estella is heartless. “You must know,” said Estella, condescending to me as a brilliant and beautiful woman might, “that I have no heart . . .” Apprenticed as a blacksmith with his brother-in-law, Pip yearns to become a wealthy gentleman in order to be worthy of her. And when he learns of the expectations from a secret benefactor for him to be trained in the gentlemanly arts, he goes to London. As a series of events follow, including Estella’s marriage to the brutal nobleman, Bentley Drummle, will Pip and Estella ever unite? Set in the early Victorian England, Great Expectations mirrors scenes from Dickens’ own childhood. Rich in imagery, this Bildungsroman traces Pip’s journey of self-discovery and self-improvement from childhood to maturity. First serialised in All the Year Round, Dickens’ weekly periodical, Great Expectations was published in the novel form in 1861. It has not only been adapted into films but has also influenced a number of writers and continues to receive universal acclaim. About the Author Charles Dickens was one of the most popular English writers of all time. He created some of the world’s most well-known fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. Born in Portsmouth, England, on 7 February, 1812, Dickens was the second of eight children. He was forced to leave school after his father’s imprisonment, to work at a boot-blacking factory. His early childhood experiences were much like those depicted in his novel—David Copperfield. He felt abandoned and betrayed by the adults who were supposed to take care of him. These sentiments later became a recurring theme in his writings. In 1865, Dickens was involved in a train accident and never fully recovered. On June 9, 1870, Dickens suffered a stroke and, at the age of 58, died at Gad’s Hill Place, his country home in Kent, England, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished.