'My father's family name being Pirrip, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.' Great Expectations (1860-1) charts the progress of Pip from childhood to maturity as he learns self-knowledge through his encounters with some extraordinary characters: the convict Magwitch, the mysterious Miss Havisham and her ward, the arrogant, beautiful Estella. Alan Sillitoe is a novelist and poet whose work includes books for children and plays. His best-known books are Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1958) and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1959) and his most recent novel is The Broken Chariot (1998).