Great Expectations

Written by Charles Dickens

Part of the Oxford World's Classics series

Pip's journey from humble beginnings to wealth tests his identity and values in a world of ambition and deceit.

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544 pages· 185,142 words· 890L

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Bookroo's summary

Pip's life transforms as he leaves the Kent marshes for bustling London, driven by dreams of wealth and status. Along the way, he meets unforgettable characters like the mysterious convict Magwitch and the enigmatic Miss Havisham. As Pip navigates these encounters, he must confront the challenge of defining his own identity and values amidst societal pressures. Will he find true fulfillment, or will ambition lead him astray? Dickens's tale of self-discovery and moral dilemmas poses timeless questions about the cost of ambition and the essence of personal integrity.

From the publisher

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, encountering a variety of extraordinary characters ranging from Magwitch, the escaped convict, to Miss Havisham, locked up with her unhappy past and living with her ward, the arrogant, beautiful Estella. Pip must discover his true self, and his own set of values and priorities. Whether such values allow one to prosper in the complex world of early Victorian England is the major question posed by Great Expectations, one of Dickens’s most fascinating, and disturbing, novels. This edition includes the original, discarded ending, Dickens’s brief working notes, and the serial instalments and chapter divisions in different editions. It also uses the definitive Clarendon text.

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