- 1960: Washington Square Press edition
- 1968: Holt, Rinehart and Winston edition
- 1969: Bancroft Books edition
- 1974: New English Library edition
- 1980: New American Library edition
- 1983: Watermill edition
- 2022: Book Sales edition
Great Expectations
A boy, a fortune, and the expensive work of growing up.
Overview
Great Expectations follows Pip, a poor orphan who gets a sudden chance to become a gentleman. His new money brings him to London, closer to the cold and dazzling Estella, and farther from the people who first loved him.
This is a coming-of-age story with a crooked smile. Dickens gives Pip real guilt to carry, then surrounds him with odd people, bad plans, and hidden ties that keep changing what he thinks he knows. The plot has its wild turns, but the book’s strongest pull is Pip’s slow understanding of pride, loyalty, and kindness.
The prose is Victorian but lively, and Pip tells the story with more honesty than he had as a boy. Give it a little time at the start. Once Satis House, Miss Havisham, and London come into view, the novel moves with real force.
Is This Book for You?
Yes, if...
- You want a coming-of-age story with sharp comedy and a real ache beneath it.
- You like messy loyalties, strange benefactors, and people who misread one another.
- You want Dickens at a more manageable length than his biggest novels.
No, if...
- You want a romance where Pip and Estella are easy to root for.
- You need every plot turn to feel likely rather than boldly arranged.
- You dislike long Victorian sentences, coincidences, and side characters with big names.
Summary
Notable Quotables
“I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.”
“Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.”
“I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape.”