Great Expectations

Pip is a village blacksmith's apprentice until a secret benefactor sends him to London to become a gentleman. He's sure it must be the eccentric Miss Havisham, who still wears her wedding dress years after being jilted — and that he's meant for her cold, beautiful ward, Estella. He's wrong about almost everything.

Dickens at his most gripping: a story of ambition, loyalty, and finding out who your real friends are.