Great Expectations

Great Expectations was a novel written by Charles Dickens. (TV: The Unquiet Dead) It was described as "haunting", depicting the personal development of an orphan named Pip as he discovered the true nature of his 'great expectations'. By the 21st century it was considered a literary classic. (TV: The Empty Planet)

Plot
"It was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me."

- An extract from Great Expectations

As outlined in the blurb, the book followed the journey of an orphaned boy, Pip, as he began his new life as a gentleman. (TV: The Empty Planet)


 * A terrifying encounter with an escaped convict on a graveyard on the 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 changes the orphaned Pip's life forever, and he eagerly abandons his humble origins to begin a new life as a gentleman. Dicken's haunting late novel depicts Pip's education and development through adversity as he discovers the true nature of his 'great expectations'.