Great Expectations is Charles Dickens's thirteenth novel. It is his second novel, after David Copperfield, to be fully narrated in the first person. Great Expectations is a bildungsroman, or a coming-of-age novel, and it is a classic work of Victorian literature. It depicts the growth and personal development of an orphan named Pip. The novel was first published in serial form in Dickens's weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861, Great Expectations has a colourful cast that has entered popular culture: the capricious Miss Havisham, the cold and beautiful Estella, Joe the kind and generous blacksmith, the dry and sycophantic Uncle Pumblechook, Mr Jaggers, Wemmick with his dual personality, and the eloquent and wise friend, Herbert Pocket. Throughout the narrative, typical Dickensian themes emerge: wealth and poverty, love and rejection, and the eventual triumph of good over evil.[4] Great Expectations has become very popular and is now taught as a classic in many English classes. It has been translated into many languages and adapted many times in film and other media.

クリスマスイブの夕暮れ、鍛冶屋の少年ピップは足かせを付けた脱獄囚に捕まり、やすりと食い物をもってこいと脅かされる。このときの恐ろしい経験はあとあとまで尾をひく……田舎暮らしのピップに、降ってわいたように莫大な遺産相続の話がころがりこむ。送り主は誰なのか、世話になっている異様な金持ち夫人のミス・ハヴィサムか？ ピップはミス・ハヴィサムの養女エステラへのかなえられない思いを胸にロンドンに出る。だが友人もでき、都会生活にうつつをぬかすピップのまえに、謎の人物が姿をあらわす……話は急転直下、緊迫の度をまし一気に終末へ。皮肉とユーモア、ミステリーと冒険活劇が一体となったディケンズ晩年の傑作。