Havisham

Enter the world of Catherine Havisham, the haunting character from Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, in this mesmerizing prelude to the classic novel.

Before she became the iconic Miss Havisham of Great Expectations, she was Catherine, a young woman with a promising future. The spirited daughter of a wealthy brewer, Catherine is never far from the smell of hops and the arresting letters on the brewhouse wall—HAVISHAM—a reminder of her family name and business.

Sent by her father to stay with the Chadwycks, Catherine discovers elegant pastimes to elevate her family's new money status. But despite her growing sophistication, Catherine remains naive, and when a charismatic stranger pays her attention, everything—her heart, her future, the very Havisham name—is at risk.

In Havisham, Ronald Frame explores the psychological trauma that transformed young Catherine into Miss Havisham, cursed to roam the halls of the mansion in the tattered remains of her wedding dress. This haunting Dickensian tale of a woman's coming of age in Victorian London offers an intimate look at the British class system and the dark origins of an iconic literary figure.

A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of 2013.