A terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor--these form a series of events that change the orphan Pip's life forever, and he eagerly abandons his humble origins to begin a new life as a gentleman.

In nineteenth-century England, a young orphan boy lives in the squalid surroundings of a workhouse until he runs away and is captured by a gang of thieves, and is finally reunited with his long lost family.

The eighth novel of Charles Dickens, which was first published serially between May 1849 and November 1850, "David Copperfield", is viewed as one of the most autobiographical of all the author's novels. A classic coming-of-age story, it is the tale of its titular character from childhood to maturity which chronicles the struggle between the emotional and moral aspects of his life. Central to the theme of the novel is the idea of the disciplined heart....