For the first time in Russian - a worldwide bestseller by New Zealand writer Lloyd Jones, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, translated into dozens of languages and filmed by Andrew Adamson (director of "Shreks" and films about Narnia), with the leading role played by "Dr. House" himself - Hugh Laurie; the film is released in 2012. A tiny village on a tropical island in the South Pacific. All the whites have flown to Australia, war is approaching from the other end of the island, the school has been closed for three months. And suddenly the reclusive Mr. Watts—the only white man left in the village and never before known to be inclined to teach—resumes schoolwork. Children, he says, I will introduce you to Mr. Dickens. Thirteen-year-old Matilda and her friends are preparing a list of urgent tasks for an unexpected visitor - fixing a generator, bringing aspirin and anti-malaria pills... But Mr. Watts was talking about a completely different acquaintance: he will read them the novel “Great Expectations.” And in times of war, the power of imagination is a dangerous weapon...