This is a masterpiece by Charles Dickens. The story is told in a semi-autobiographical style and is the story of Philip Pirrip, referred to as Pip in the novel. We see Pip telling his story to us. And as the title goes, it is a story of expectations and life.

Pip is an orphan who lives with his older sister and husband, Joe. He works with Joe, who has a warm affection for Pip. Pip once gets food and rum for a convict who escaped from prison. The convict turns up again towards the end of the novel bringing about a considerable turn in the story. Other major characters in the story are Miss Havisham and Estella. Miss Havisham lives in a mansion and is an eccentric character. There are mysteries surrounding her like a big house and none else, a wedding gown, a table in a hall full of spiders and so on. Estella is Miss Havisham’s adopted daughter whom Miss Havisham trains to be rude, haughty, proud, and hate men. Pip has a liking for Estella, but she always finds happiness in hurting him. The second half shows the transformation of Pip from a village boy to a young civilized gentleman. He is being sponsored by an unknown benefactor. A few years later, his sister expires and Joe is all alone. Estella gets married to another person. Joe marries Biddy with whom he has a child. In the third half, who the benefactor of Pip is, is revealed. This comes as a shock to Pip, as he had expected someone else to be the benefactor. More stories of the benefactor, Miss Havisham, and Estella are revealed towards the end.

A confusion about this novel is that the author had written two endings for it. The ending written secondly is considered more appropriate by readers. Another characteristic of the novel is the number of sub-plots. Though the story is about and revolves around Pip, the sub-plots are many. So are the characters. The author has marvelously linked all the sub-plots to the main one and the characters blend in well to the mix.