Great Expectations

Elsie fights to survive in the bomb-blasted streets of London in award-winning author Tanya Landman's unflinching look at the politics and prejudices of 1940s Britain.

Elsie fights to survive in the bomb-blasted streets of London in award-winning author Tanya Landman's unflinching look at the politics and prejudices of 1940s Britain.

Stepney, London, 1940.
When bombs are raining down from the skies over London... When the East End is in flames... When your whole world has fallen apart... Do you give up? Despair? Or do you take your courage in both hands and fight back?

Ever since the Battle of Cable Street Elsie, her brother Mikey and their friends have watched the rise of fascism in Europe with helpless horror. They've been powerless to do anything about it. Until now...

Autorentext

Tanya has been part of Storybox Theatre since 1992 working as a writer, administrator and performer. She is the author of many books for children and is currently based in Devon.

Klappentext

Carnegie Medal-winning author Tanya Landman returns with a brilliantly realised and truly accessible retelling of the book described as Dickens' "most perfect" novel.

My story is a long one with many strange events and dark turns. But time is short. I will be brief. In this slim volume I concentrate on five people. A dangerous criminal. An honest blacksmith. An abandoned bride. A girl who glittered like a distant star. And myself. Philip Pirrip, known as Pip, whose life was twisted and bent out of shape by all of them.

Orphaned as baby, Pip is raised by his sister to live the simple life of a blacksmith's boy. But a chance encounter in a graveyard and a visit to a ruined mansion set him on a different path. When a secret benefactor pays for him to become a gentleman, Pip's life takes a greatly unexpected turn ...

Particularly suitable for readers aged 11+ with a reading age of 9.