October 2011 Guest Editor Roddy Doyle: A small boy called Pip is in a graveyard just as it’s getting dark. He’s looking at the grave where his parents and five brothers are buried. An escaped convict jumps out from behind a grave and grabs him. It’s the best start to a novel ever, and the rest of the book lives up to its start. I’ve always loved Dickens. I read him when I was 9, and I’m reading him today.
Young Philip Pirrip, nicknamed Pip, is meant to become an apprentice for his brother-in-law, a poor blacksmith. But his destiny changes upon meeting three unusual people: an escaped convict, a tragic woman, and a captivating young girl. Pip's life is altered in an instant when a secret benefactor gives him a large sum of money. Pip has ';great expectations' for his new life as successful and wealthy life as a young gentleman. Has his life actually changed for the better . . . or for the worse?
