With an Introduction & Notes by Deborah Wynne Chester College Illustrated by Marcus Stone Our Mutual Friend Dickens' last complete novel gives one of his most comprehensive & 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 & scenes 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 The story is filled with colourful characters & incidents
- the faded aristocrats & parvenus gathered at the Veneering's dinner table Betty Higden & her terror of the workhouse & the greedy plottings of Silas Wegg