Book excerpt: Great Expectations tells the story of Pip, an English orphan who rises to wealth, deserts his true friends, and becomes humbled by his own arrogance. It also introduces one of the more colorful characters in literature: Miss Havisham. Dickens set Great Expectations during the time that England was becoming a wealthy world power. Machines were making factories more productive, yet people lived in awful conditions. Naïve Pip, creepy Miss Haversham, beautifully cold Estella, terrifying Abel Magwitch and the rest of Dicken's fantastic cast are perfectly envisioned in Crystal Chan's new adaptation featuring artwork by artist Nokman Poon.