Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

"I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape."

Pip, an orphan living with his abusive sister and her gentle husband, helps an escaped convict in a graveyard. Years later, he receives a mysterious fortune from an anonymous benefactor and travels to London to become a gentleman. He believes his patron is the eccentric Miss Havisham, whose beautiful, cold ward Estella he has loved since childhood. But the truth of his 'great expectations' is far more shocking.

Dickens's late masterpiece is a profound coming-of-age story. It explores themes of class, ambition, and the true nature of gentility, offering a powerful critique of the vanity of wealth.