"Great Expectations" is among Charles Dickens' most beloved and critically acclaimed novels. Serialized in 1860-61, the book tells the story of young "Pip," an orphan who is being raised by his hot-tempered sister and her kindly blacksmith husband. One night, while visiting his parents' graves, he is accosted by an escaped convict named Magwitch, who demands both food and the tools needed to remove his shackles. Pip brings him these items and the convict flees.

A few years afterwards, Pip is invited to become the part-time companion of a rich spinster named Miss Havisham who - having been left at the altar years earlier - now roams her dilapidated house (still decorated for the ill-fated nuptials) in her old wedding dress. At Miss Havisham's, Pip meets and falls in love with the cold-hearted but beautiful Estella, whom Miss Havisham is raising to punish men in retribution to her own, painful rejection.

When Pip suddenly learns that he has come into an inheritance that will set him up for an apprenticeship and a bright future as a gentleman, he becomes convinced that Miss Havisham is his benefactor and he embarks on a new life - and new adventures - in London.

A smashing success when it was first published, "Great Expectations" has gone on to become a literary classic and has been adapted countless times for the stage and screen. The novel is presented here in its original and unabridged format.