Mister Pip by NZ writer, Lloyd Jones, tells the story of a group of children on the Island of Bourganville being read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. The initiative is that of the whole white man left on the Island, Mr Watts, who says that he was orphan as a child in New Zealand.

Bourganville is in the middle of a civil war and the story helps the children to 'escape' their difficult circumstances, at least for a while every day.

13-year-old Matilda is the protagonist and she describes her night time reflections on the day's readings and how her mother, a devout Christian, becomes disturbed by Matilda's fondness for the book.

As a young adult, Matilda decides to investigate Dickens further for her PhD thesis, an investigation that, necessarily, involves a trip to England.