"It's the early 1800s; you're a young boy growing up in the poor slop of the rural moors in England. You take a quick walk from your cottage to visit family graves and are caught up by a snarling, escaped convict threatening to have your beating heart dug out if you don't obey his every word. Now imagine, over the next few years, that you silently, privately hand your soul to the girl of your dreams...who delights in slowly, carefully breaking and digesting your heart for her own perverse pleasure. Then, as you approach adulthood, imagine that convict anonymously showering you with all the wealth he never had. And imagine that young woman finally, kindly, lovingly, restoring that pulpy, innocent heart to you. This is Philip Pirrip's life of Great Expectations." -From Schwager's Introduction Everything changes for young Pip when he is almost beaten by a man in a graveyard. An orphan and the apprentice of a poor blacksmith, Pip is perpetually lovestruck by the girl, Estella, who is wealthy, divine, and utterly heartless. Pip's only chance to escape his moribund low-class origin comes by means of the friends he makes and a surprising amount of money. But only time will tell if he can achieve all his dreams--or if they are even worth achieving. This rags-to-riches Canon Classic is full of dramatic changes of fortune, exciting revelations, close escapes, and Dickens's unfailingly humorous caricature. The Canon Classics series presents the most definitive works of Western literature in a colorful, well-crafted, and affordable way. Unlike many other thrift editions, our classics feature individualized designs that prioritize readability by means of proper margins, leading, characters per line, font, trim size, etc. Each book's materials and layout combine to make the classics a simple and striking addition to classrooms and homes, ideal for introducing the best of literary culture and human experience to the next generation. This Worldview Edition features an introduction divided into sections on The World Around, About the Author, What Other Notables Said, Setting, Characters, & Plot Summary, Worldview Analysis, and 21 Significant Questions & Answers. Whatever the word "great" means, Dickens was what it means. --G.K. Chesterton, There is no contemporary English writer whose works are read so generally through the whole house, who can give pleasure to the servants as well as to the mistress, to the children as well as to the master. --Walter Bagehot, National Review It does not matter that Dickens's world is not lifelike; it is alive. --Lord David Cecil, Early Victorian Novelists Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was one of the most famous English novelists of all time, famous for such classics as A Christmas Carol , Oliver Twist , A Tale of Two Cities , and David Copperfield . Marcus Schwager holds a Master's degree in Humanities from California State University, Dominguez Hills, writing his thesis on G. K. Chesterton. He and his wife, Meris, have five children and attend Trinity Covenant Church in Aptos, California. He writes for Canon Press, teaches upper-school Humanities at St. Abraham's Classical Christian Academy, and works for his family's construction and real estate company.