Great Expectations

Charles Dickens

Apr 2012 · BBC Digital Audio · Narrated by Douglas Hodge, Full Cast, and Geraldine McEwan

About this audiobook

When orphan Pip meets the escaped convict Magwitch in an overgrown churchyard on the Kent marshes, little does he know that the incident will change his life forever. Some years later, now apprenticed to his blacksmith brother-in-law, Pip falls in love with the beautiful Estella. Her half-crazed and bitter guardian Miss Havisham, however, exerts a malign influence over the girl and forces a wedge between the two. Pip abandons his roots and, with 'great expectations' of becoming a gentleman, heads for London society. There he begins to receive riches from a mysterious benefactor... Pip's quest to find his true identity, and his growth to maturity through misfortune and misery, form the basis of this atmospheric tale starring Douglas Hodge, Geraldine McEwan and Amanda Redman. Directed by Sally Avens.

About the author

Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented popularity, and by the twentieth century he was widely seen as a literary genius by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular.