The orphan Pip was raised by his sister and employed by the noble Havishams.

He fell in love with her daughter Estella and wanted to be a gentleman.

A fugitive who he had kindly saved in his childhood got rich abroad, cleverly arranged him to go to London for education and entering society to repay his grace.

But fate broke his hope: Estella married with other, the fugitive was arrested and heritage was confiscated, Pip's "great expectations" suddenly vanished like soap bubbles.

The whole novel plot was heart-thrilling and deeply touching, the process from hope birth till disillusionment has evoked the resonance of generations of readers.

Many western critics have praised it as the best work of Dickens.