Our Mutual Friend

A body is pulled from the Thames, and a fortune made from dust changes hands. So begins Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens's last completed novel, a rich and many-stranded story of money, love, and the murky currents of Victorian London.

At its centre is the Harmon inheritance, a vast fortune derived from dust-heaps, and the lives it touches: a young heir presumed dead, a beautiful girl who must learn the difference between price and worth, and a kind foreman who becomes the Golden Dustman. Around them swirls a memorable cast—a one-legged ballad-seller with schemes, a dolls' dressmaker with a sharp tongue, a languid barrister, a tormented schoolmaster, and a river thief—all caught in a plot that moves from fashionable drawing rooms to the shadowy banks of the Thames.

Dickens blends mystery, satire, and romance in a novel that asks what makes a person valuable and whether money can ever be clean. Readers who love Victorian fiction, intricate plots, and vivid characters will find much to enjoy here.

This edition contains the complete text of the novel with Dickens's postscript, a new introduction for first-time readers, a character guide, a summary of the story, a thematic overview, a glossary of period terms, and discussion questions for book clubs and students.