Our Mutual Friend

<div><p><strong>With an Introduction and Notes by Deborah Wynne, Chester College. Illustrated by Marcus Stone.</strong></p></div><div><p><em>Our Mutual Friend,</em> Dickens'' last complete novel, gives one of his most comprehensive and penetrating accounts of Victorian society. Its vision of a culture stifled by materialistic values emerges not just through its central narratives, but through its apparently incidental characters and scenes.</p></div><div><p>The chief of its several plots centres on John Harmon who returns to England as his father''s heir. He is believed drowned under suspicious circumstances - a situation convenient to his wish for anonymity until he can evaluate Bella Wilfer whom he must marry to secure his inheritance.</p></div><div><p>The story is filled with colourful characters and incidents - the faded aristocrats and parvenus gathered at the Veneering''s dinner table, Betty Higden and her terror of the workhouse and the greedy plottings of Silas Wegg.</p></div>