Great Expectations

Name: Great Expectations
Brand: Hachette UK
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.6 (57 reviews)
Author: Charles Dickens
ISBN: 9781472252555

Author: Charles Dickens

Narrator: Eddie Izzard

Unabridged: 20 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Wildfire

Published: 06/14/2018

Categories: Fiction, Classic, Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The classic Charles Dickens novel, performed by one of Britain's greatest comedians

Widely considered to be Charles Dickens' greatest and best-loved work, Great Expectations was first published as a serial between December 1860 - August 1861 and has been in print ever since. The story of a young boy from humble origins who dares to dream of becoming a gentleman, it is one of Dickens' most enduring and widely adapted novels.

In this new unabridged production, star comedian and polymath Eddie Izzard infuses the story of Pip with her trademark wit and flair, and breathes new life into some of Dickens' most memorable characters, while staying completely faithful to the novel.

A unique performer and storyteller, Eddie has long held a fascination for Dickens and his work. Whether you're already well-acquainted with the story or you've never read a Charles Dickens novel, this is a must-listen.

Praise for the stage adaptation Eddie Izzard Performs Charles Dickens' Great Expectations:

'[A] captivating and colourfully calibrated performance' Wall Street Journal
'She's got this story by the reins, and we're lucky to travel along.' New York Stage Review

(P)2018 Headline Publishing Group Ltd

About Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens, whose pen name was Boz, is regarded by many as one of the world's greatest authors. His father, a navy clerk, was - like the fathers in many of Dickens' novels - constantly in and out of debtor's prison, and Dickens was sent to work in a blacking factory at the age of twelve. His parents' failure to educate him was a source of great bitterness to him, and he reacted to this indifference by working incredibly hard for his entire life. Beginning as an office boy in a lawyer's office, in time he became a parliamentary reporter and then a journalist. He wrote The Pickwick Papers at the age of twenty-four, and captured the popular imagination in a way no other novelist had done previously. He continued writing and reading his works in public until his sudden death in 1870.

About Eddie Izzard

Eddie Izzard is a world-renowned comedian, actor, writer, runner, and activist. He made his West End debut in 1993 in a one-man show called Live at the Ambassadors, for which he received an Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement. He recently appeared on television as Dr Abel Gideon in Hannibal, and he produced and starred in the FX Networks series The Riches. His films include Valkyrie; Ocean's Thirteen and Ocean's Twelve; Across the Universe; Mystery Men; Shadow of the Vampire; The Cat's Meow; Lost Christmas; Castles in the Sky; and Whisky Galore! His stage appearances include David Mamet's Race and The Cryptogram; the title role in Marlowe's Edward II; 900 Oneonta; and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg in London and on Broadway, which garnered him a Tony nomination for Best Actor. Izzard's hit one-man shows include Dress to Kill, Stripped, and Force Majeure. His performance in Dress to Kill earned him two Emmy Awards. In 2010, the documentary Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story received an Emmy nomination. In 2009, Izzard ran forty-three marathons in fifty-one days throughout the United Kingdom, and in 2016, he ran twenty-seven marathons in twenty-seven days across South Africa in honour of Nelson Mandela's twenty-seven years in prison. By running these seventy marathons he has helped raise £4.8 million ($6 million) for the UK charity Sport Relief.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Emily May

“There was a long hard time when I kept far from me the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth.” I first read Great Expectations when I was thirteen years old. It was the first of Dickens' works that I'd read of my own volition, the only other being O......more

Goodreads review by Michael

My students (and some of my friends) can't ever figure out why I love this novel so much. I explain how the characters are thoroughly original and yet timeless, how the symbolism is rich and tasty, and how the narrative itself is juicy and chock-full of complexity, but they just shake their heads at......more

Goodreads review by emma

welcome to...GREAT EXPECTA(JUNE)S. that was so bad. i need to write fast - i'm expecting a SWAT team to enter my cute apartment via my lovely floor-to-ceiling windows and put me out of my misery at any moment. you can't murder the art of punning like that and expect to escape with your life. in the m......more

Goodreads review by Jeffrey

”I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes. I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young woman, and that the figure upon which it now hung loose had shrunk t......more

Goodreads review by Sean Barrs

"Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day." That is such a quote. If there was ever a novel that shows us the dangers of false perceptions......more