Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (author) (UK edition)

“You are to understand, Mr. Pip, that the name of the person who is your liberal benefactor remains a profound secret…”

Pip is just a poor boy living on the forge with his sister and her husband, the blacksmith, until he meets the bitter, wealthy old Miss Havisham. Asked to act as a companion to her adopted daughter, Estella, he is led to believe that a great future lies in wait for him. In time, a mysterious benefactor raises him to the status of a gentleman, taking him from the Kent marshes to London’s wealthiest districts. Yet as Pip tries to fit into high society, he is haunted by figures from his past – the escaped convict Magwitch, the time-withered Miss Havisham and the proud, beautiful Estella. As he snubs his old family, runs up debts and sinks into debauchery, will his newfound good fortune be the ruin of him? One of Dickens’s most popular novels, Great Expectations is a powerful reflection on wealth, class, hope and the things that really matter in life.