Great Expectations
British novelist, 1812–1870.
Great Expectations is an 1860 novel by Charles Dickens.
On 8 of the 13 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Charles Dickens
- First published
- Serialised 1860–61
- Length
- 560 pages (UK paperback)
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Coming of age, Class and society
Is Great Expectations worth reading?
8 of the 13 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them The 100 greatest British novels (BBC Culture) and Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (Amazon.co.uk, 2014) | Listed | See the list |
| Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs, 2002) | Listed | See the list |
| Oprah's Book Club picks (Oprah's Book Club, 1996-) | Listed | See the list |
| Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 29 | See the list |
| The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 35 | See the list |
| The 100 greatest British novels (BBC Culture, 2015) | No. 4 | See the list |
| The Big Read top 100 (BBC, 2003) | No. 17 | See the list |
| The Great American Read (PBS, 2018) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of Great Expectations
The edition we link to is the Penguin paperback (2004), 560 pages.
- Publisher
- Penguin (paperback, 2004)
- Pages
- 560
- ISBN
- 9780141439563
How critics and readers rate Great Expectations
Readers rate it most highly: it earned 83% of the points available on readers' and booksellers' lists, against 46% on critics' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like Great Expectations
If you liked Great Expectations, try David Copperfield, Bleak House or A Tale of Two Cities.
