Miss Havisham's Fire Saint Louis revived the work in a new version by Argento that shortened the opera by more than an hour and made improvements to the work's dramatic structure. This production received a much more positive response from the press. Miss Havisham's Fire Miss Havisham's Fire is an opera in 2 acts by composer Dominick Argento with an English language libretto by John Olon-Scrymgeour. The work is loosely based on Charles Dickens' 1861 novel "Great Expectations", and centers on an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the death of Aurelia Havisham. Commissioned by the New York City Opera, the work premiered on
Mariana (Dickens novel) novel has been described as a semi-autobiography, for example Dickens was kicked out of Drama School "for not being able to act". Mariana (Dickens novel) Mariana (1940) is the first novel by Monica Dickens. "Mariana" is a coming of age novel, which describes the growth and experience of Mary Shannon, a young English girl in the 1930s as the first hints of war begin to permeate English domestic life. First published by Michael Joseph, it was reprinted by Persephone Books in 1999 and is the second in their collection. The title is a reference to the poem of the same