Written by Charles Dickens
Read by Martin Jarvis
Format: MP3
Unabridged

Great Expectations charts the progress of Pip from childhood through often painful experiences to adulthood, as he moves from the Kent marshes to busy,
commercial London, encountering a variety of extraordinary characters ranging from Magwitch, the escaped convict, to Miss Havisham, locked up with her
unhappy past and living with her ward, the arrogant, beautiful Estella in Rochester, Kent.

In this compelling story, Dickens shows the dangers of being driven by a desire for wealth and social status. Pip must establish his own sense of self
against the plans which others seem to have for him, and thus discover a firm set of values and priorities. Whether such values will allow one to prosper
in the complex world of early Victorian England is, however, the major question posed by Great Expectations, one of Dickens's most fascinating and disturbing
novels.

The main theme of the book revolves around the nature of what constitutes a 'gentleman'. Pip believes initially that a gentleman is an individual with
wealth, fine clothes and preferably a title, however he realises by the end of the novel that true gentleman, as epitomized by Joe the blacksmith, are
defined as such by their character and decency and not by the clothes they wear.