Our Mutual Friend
-
-
4.5 • 164 Ratings
-
Publisher Description
An Apple Books Classic edition.
Charles Dickens’ final completed novel is a satirical masterpiece of greed, romance, and the possibility of redemption even in London’s filthiest corners.
A body pulled from the Thames is identified as John Harmon, heir to a vast fortune. His inheritance passes to the kindly Boffins and complicates life for Bella Wilfer, who was contracted to marry Harmon. As opportunists and schemers circle, an enigmatic stranger named John Rokesmith enters the Boffins’ household—and he’s got a lot of questions.
As fortunes shift and secrets pile up, Dickens maps a vivid, comic Victorian London where money shapes every relationship and no one is quite what they seem. Atmospheric and intricate, Our Mutual Friend reveals how greed corrupts and kindness redeems in equal measure.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
David Timson reads Dickens's last complete novel with a sense of fun. As always, Dickens creates a fabulous array of characters: the nouveau riche Veneerings, the dwarf who makes doll clothes, the bizarre schoolmaster, and the abysmally poor who trawl the Thames for bodies or daily sift the dust and dirt of Victorian England for a skimpy living. Timson's dramatic talents add dimension to each personality just the sort of acting that makes an audio experience so satisfying. Naxos has done a fine job of abridging the book (Timson also reads the unabridged version on 28 CDs). Not much is lost in terms of plot and characterization, and Dickens's great satiric and social themes come through clearly: the plight and misery of the poor and the greed and heartless stupidity of the rich. If the abridgment seems a bit disjointed, it simply follows the novel's narrative style. This is a wonderful listen for Dickens fans and novices alike.
Customer Reviews
An Amazing Exercise
So the lady thought that she was a good English student, but it took her much determined slogging to get to the end of this tome. But why did she persevere? Because the craft of Dickens is of such high caliber that she could not leave the book without knowing of the disposition of all of the tremendous characters, heroes, heroines, and villains alike. However, she is finally released from the thrall of the story and declares it "a marvelous ride."