
Great Expectations
- First published
- 1861
- Reading level
- Plain English
- Price
- Free
About the book
"Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens is a novel first published serially from 1860 to 1861. The story follows Pip, a young orphan living with his sister and her blacksmith husband on England's coastal marshes. After a terrifying encounter with an escaped convict and strange visits to the bitter Miss Havisham and her cold adopted daughter Estella, Pip's life transforms when he mysteriously receives a fortune from an unknown benefactor. This bildungsroman explores wealth and poverty, love and rejection, through vivid characters and dramatic scenes that have captivated readers for generations.
- Orphans
- England
- Revenge
- Bildungsromans
- Young men
- Man-woman relationships
Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #1400. Great Expectations on Wikipedia.











