EDITORIAL REVIEW: Witty and buoyant comedy of manners is brilliantly plotted from its effervescent first act to its hilarious denouement, and filled with some of literature’s most famous epigrams. Widely considered Wilde’s most perfect work, the play is reprinted here from an authoritative early British edition. Note to the Dover Edition.

SUMMARY: The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: British/ Italy/ Fiction; Young women/ Fiction; Florence (Italy); England; British; Young women; Humorous stories; England - Fiction; British - Italy; Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Literary; Fiction / General; Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Humorous; Fiction / Literary; Foreign Language Study / English as a Second Language; Foreign Language Study / Japanese; History / Europe / Italy; Language Arts

EDITORIAL REVIEW: *Great Expectations*, by **Charles Dickens**, is part of the *Barnes & Noble Classics** *series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of *Barnes & Noble Classics*: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. *Barnes & Noble Classics *pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.** *Great Expectations*, described by G. K. Chesterton as a “study in human weakness and the slow human surrender,” may be called **Charles Dickens**’s finest moment in a remarkably illustrious literary career.In an overgrown churchyard, a grizzled convict springs upon an orphan named Pip. The convict terrifies the young boy and threatens to kill him unless Pip helps further his escape. Later, Pip finds himself in the ruined garden where he meets the bitter and crazy Miss Havisham and her foster child Estella, with whom he immediately falls in love. After a secret benefactor gives him a fortune, Pip moves to London, where he cultivates great expectations for a life which would allow him to discard his impoverished beginnings and socialize with the idle upper class. As Pip struggles to become a gentleman and is tormented endlessly by the beautiful Estella, he slowly learns the truth about himself and his illusions.Written in the last decade of his life, *Great Expectations* reveals Dickens’s dark attitudes toward Victorian society, its inherent class structure, and its materialism. Yet this novel persists as one of Dickens’s most popular. Richly comic and immensely readable, *Great Expectations* overspills with vividly drawn characters, moral maelstroms, and the sorrow and pity of love.**Radhika Jones** is a doctoral candidate in English and comparative literature at Columbia University and the managing editor of *Grand Street magazine*.

SUMMARY: Featuring a new preface, this classic satire on totalitarianism in which farm animals overthrow their human owner and set up their own government is once again brought to life for a new generation of readers. Reissue.

SUMMARY: Considered one of Dickens's greatest works, "Bleak House" scathingly portrays his belief: "The one great principle of the English law is to make business for itself." Peopled with both comic and tragic characters, including one of literature's first detectives, this classic celebrates the 150th anniversary of its first publication. Original.