Get everything you can out of your time reading the classics with the Christian Guides to the Classics Series!

Leland Ryken provides a clear pathway to understanding the "Great Works" through this engaging series of short guidebooks. Beginning with "why the classics matter" and "the nature and function of literature," readers will find a helpful path to reading and analyzing influential works in the Western canon.

Each book:

Includes an introduction to the author and work

Explains the cultural context

Incorporates published criticism

Defines key literary terms

Contains discussion questions at the end of each unit of the text

Lists resources for further study

Evaluates the classic text from a Christian worldview.

In this volume, Ryken guides readers through Dickens's quintessential coming-of-age novel, Great Expectations. Exploring perennial themes such as love, justice, and heroism, this book stands as the preeminent example of Dickens's unrivaled ability to conjure realistic characters and palpable settings.