Great Expectations is a book written by Charles Dickens, a famous writer who lived in England in the 1800s. Dickens wrote the story of Great Expectations in 1860 but at the time it was released as a series, like a comic book. Great Expectations is a very popular story and has been performed in the theatre, on television and as a film over two hundred and fifty times! Many people believe that the book is semi-autobiographical, which means Dickens based some of the events and people in the story on his own life.