This was the second spin off novel from Great Expectations I have read recently. This focused specifically on Estella's life during and after her marriage to Bentley Drummle, before she met Pip again in the ruins of Satis House. It followed the events and themes of Dickens's classic more closely and, for me, more satisfyingly than Ronald Frame's Havisham novel. Estella here was a much more sympathetic character throughout than in GE, and was pining after her lost opportunity with Pip almost as soon as she married Drummle. It was an engaging novel, though the constant misfortunes she encountered with various men painted a more wretched picture of her life than is seen in GE. 4.5/5. ( )