Great Expectations

A boy. A convict. A frozen wedding cake. And the fortune that changed everything.

Charles Dickens's most perfect novel is a mystery, a romance, and a coming-of-age story all at once—a tale about the difference between being rich and being good.

Young Pip, an orphan living with his cruel sister and her kind blacksmith husband, encounters an escaped convict in a marshland graveyard. Terrified, he helps the man. Years pass. Pip is summoned to play at the decaying mansion of the wealthy, reclusive Miss Havisham—a woman frozen in time since being jilted at the altar, still wearing her wedding dress, still surrounded by rotting cake. There, he meets Estella, a beautiful, cold girl who has been raised to break men's hearts. Pip falls hopelessly in love with her. Then comes the news: an anonymous benefactor has granted Pip a fortune. He moves to London, becomes a gentleman, and abandons the only people who ever loved him. But who is his mysterious patron? And what will happen when Pip discovers the truth?

This is Dickens at his most gripping and psychologically acute: a novel about shame, ambition, and the painful discovery that the things we want most are rarely the things we need. Great Expectations has the most famous opening of any Dickens novel—and one of the most satisfying final sentences ever written.

• Widely considered Dickens's finest achievement, praised by George Bernard Shaw and countless others

• Explores themes of class, crime, guilt, and the corruption of wealth

• Features some of Dickens's most unforgettable characters: Miss Havisham, Magwitch, and the cold-hearted Estella

Available in multiple formats:

• Paperback & Hardcover: Beautifully designed print editions presenting the complete, unabridged text made to last.

• Ebook: DRM-free EPUB compatible with Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, and all major e-readers.

• Audiobook: Professionally narrated, complete and unabridged, available on all major audiobook platforms.

A beautifully crafted edition for your shelf, your device, or your ears—or the perfect gift for anyone who knows that great expectations are not always what they seem.

About the Author

Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was an English novelist, journalist, and social critic, widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. Born in Portsmouth, he endured a childhood of poverty and forced labor in a blacking factory after his father was imprisoned for debt—experiences that shaped his lifelong commitment to social reform. His major works include Oliver Twist (1837), David Copperfield (1850), Bleak House (1853), Hard Times (1854), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1861), and A Christmas Carol (1843). Great Expectations was first published as a weekly serial in 1860–61 and has since been adapted countless times for film, television, and stage. Dickens died of a stroke in 1870 and is buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.