Great Expectations

Great Expectations takes place in 19th century England and it is about a young man named Pip, who was raised "by hand" by his overbearing older sister after his parents passed away. Pip and his sister live in a forge with Joe Gargery, her husband, who is a blacksmith. In the beginning of the novel, Pip meets an escaped convict in the graveyard where his parents were buried who threatens to kill him if he doesn't bring him some food and a file to get the iron shackle off of his leg. Pip does this out of fear and the convict leaves him be. When he returns home, it is arranged that he should be apprenticed to Joe, and become a blacksmith. Before this happens, however, Pip is forced to play at Miss Havisham's house. Miss Havisham is an older, aristocratic woman who hasn't left her house since she was left at the alter by her lover, who scammed her into buying her brother's share of some property left to him by their deceased father at an immensely high price so he could split the profits with her brother. As he regularly visits Miss Havisham's house, Pip gets a taste of the sweet life and he doesn't want to go back to the forge to be a blacksmith. He also meets a girl named Estella, who was adopted by Miss Havisham with the sole intent of raising her to be a heartbreaker so she could have her revenge on men. She is very condescending to Pip, but this doesn't stop him from falling in love with her. Just after he is bound to be apprenticed to Joe, he is informed that someone had put aside a large sum of money for him. This marks the beginning of Pip's Great Expectations. However, he would soon find out, after getting a taste for the finer things in life, how money erases the goodness in people's hearts, and he starts to regret leaving the forge and, more importantly, his family. I can't say any more without ruining some really good surprises, but i would definitely reccomend this book to anybody who likes stories with memorable, realistic characters and suspensful plot turns. This is by far the best novel I've ever read.