Great Expectations

Front Cover
ReadHowYouWant.com, Mar 14, 2009 - Fiction - 741 pages
A terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor - these form a series of events that change the orphaned Pip's life forever, and he eagerly abandons his humble origins to begin a new life as a gentleman. Dickens' haunting late novel depicts Pip's education and development through adversity as he discovers thetrue nature of his 'great expectations'.
 

Selected pages

Contents

Chapter 1
1
Chapter 2
10
Chapter 3
26
Chapter 5
50
Chapter 6
69
Chapter 7
72
Chapter 8
91
Chapter 9
113
Chapter 16
211
Chapter 17
219
Chapter 18
235
Chapter 19
259
Chapter 20
285
Chapter 21
300
Chapter 22
309
Chapter 23
332

Chapter 10
126
Chapter 11
138
Chapter 12
163
Chapter 13
173
Chapter 14
187
Chapter 15
191
Chapter 24
346
Chapter 25
357
Chapter 26
370
Chapter 27
383
Chapter 28
397
Chapter 29
408

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About the author (2009)

Charles Dickens, perhaps the best British novelist of the Victorian era, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England on February 7, 1812. His happy early childhood was interrupted when his father was sent to debtors' prison, and young Dickens had to go to work in a factory at age twelve. Later, he took jobs as an office boy and journalist before publishing essays and stories in the 1830s. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, made him a famous and popular author at the age of twenty-five. Subsequent works were published serially in periodicals and cemented his reputation as a master of colorful characterization, and as a harsh critic of social evils and corrupt institutions. His many books include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Little Dorrit, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens married Catherine Hogarth in 1836, and the couple had nine children before separating in 1858 when he began a long affair with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. Despite the scandal, Dickens remained a public figure, appearing often to read his fiction. He died in 1870, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished.

Bibliographic information