Notes

Other Title: Mr Pip

Summary: Set mainly in a small village on Bougainville, where Matilda attends the school set up by the only white man in the village, Mr Watts. By his own admission he's not much of a teacher and educates the children by reading them Great Expectations. Matilda falls in love with the novel and the promise of the next chapter is what keeps her going; Pip's story protects her from the horror of what is happening around her - helicopters menacing the skies and rebel raids. After several visits to the village by soldiers, the book goes missing and is then destroyed. Mr Watts encourages the children to retell the story from memory. Later, when she has fled the island for Australia, Matilda reads a copy of Great Expectations and realises that Mr Watts was telling them his own version of the story.

New Zealand author