' It was now too late & too far to go back & I went on. & the mists had all solemnly risen now & the world lay spread before me' A terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter decaying Miss Havisham & 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 & he eagerly abandons his humble origins to begin a new life as a gentleman. Dickens's haunting late novel depicts Pip's education & development through adversity as he discovers the true nature of his 'great expectations'. This definitive edition uses the text from the first published edition of 1861. It
Includes:: a map of Kent in the early nineteenth century & appendices on Dickens's original ending & his working notes giving readers an illuminating glimpse into the mind of a great novelist at work.