OUR MUTUAL FRIEND（ISBN=9780375761140）

　　Our Mutual Friend was the last novel Charles Dickens completed and is, arguably, his darkest and most complex. The basic plot is vintage Dickens: an inheritance up for grabs, a murder, a rocky romance or two, plenty of skullduggery, and a host of unforgettable secondary characters. But in this final outing the author's heroes are more flawed, his villains more sympathetic, and the story as a whole more harrowing and less sentimental. The mood is set in the opening scene in which a riverman, Gaffer Hexam, and his daughter Lizzie troll the Thames searching for drowned men whose pockets Gaffer will rifle before turning the body over to the authorities. On this particular night Gaffer finds a corpse that is later identified as that of John Harmon, who was returning from abroad to claim a large fortune when he was apparently murdered and thrown into the river.
　　Harmon's death is the catalyst for everything else that happens in the novel. It seems the fortune was left to the young man on the condition that he marry a girl he'd never met, Bella Wilfer. His death, however, brings a new heir onto the scene, Nicodemus Boffin, the kind-hearted but low-born assistant to Harmon's father. Boffin and his wife adopt young Bella, who is determined to marry money, and also hire a mysterious young secretary, John Rokesmith, who takes an uncommon interest in their ward. Not content with just one plot, Dickens throws in a secondary love story featuring the riverman's daughter, Lizzie Hexam; a dissolute young upper-class lawyer, Eugene Wrayburn; and his rival, the headmaster Bradley Headstone. Dark as the novel is, Dickens is careful to leaven it with secondary characters who are as funny as they are menacing--blackmailing Silas Wegg and his accomplice Mr. Venus, the avaricious Lammles, and self-centered Charlie Hexam. Our Mutual Friend is one of Dickens's most satisfying novels, and a fitting denouement to his prolific career. --Alix Wilber

　　A satiric masterpiece about the allure and peril of money, "Our Mutual Friend" revolves around the inheritance of a dust-heap where the rich throw their trash. When the body of John Harmon, the dust-heap's expected heir, is found in the Thames, fortunes change hands surprisingly, raising to new heights "Noddy" Boffin, a low-born but kindly clerk who becomes "the Golden Dustman." Charles Dickens's last complete novel, "Our Mutual Friend" encompasses the great themes of his earlier works: the pretensions of the nouveaux riches, the ingenuousness of the aspiring poor, and the unfailing power of wealth to corrupt all who crave it. With its flavorful cast of characters and numerous subplots, "Our Mutual Friend" is one of Dickens's most complex--and satisfying--novels.

　　Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. In 1824, his father was imprisoned for debt, so Charles was sent to work in a shoe-dye factory. He later became a clerk in a law firm, a shorthand reporter in the courts, and a parliamentary and newspaper reporter. In 1833, Dickens began to contribute short stories and essays to periodicals, heralding the start of a glittering and prolific literary career. He married Catherine Hogarth in 1836, with whom he had nine surviving children before they separated in 1858. Dickens died suddenly at home on June 9, 1870, leaving behind an internationally acclaimed canon of work, including Oliver Twist (1837), Nicholas Nickleby (1838), David Copperfield (1849-50), Bleak House (1852-53), Little Dorrit (1855-57), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1860-61) and Our Mutual Friend (1864-65). He was buried in Westminster Abbey. Michael Slater is Professor of Victorian Literature at Birkbeck College in the University of London. He was editor of The Dickensian (1968-77) and President of the International Dickens Fellowship (1988-90). He has published many books and articles on Dickens.

BOOK THE FIRST. THE CUP AND THE LIP
　1. ON THE LOOK-OUT
　2. THE MAN FROM SOMEWHERE
　3. ANOTHER MAN
　4. THE R. WILFER FAMILY
　5. BOFFIN'S BOWER
　6. CUT ADRIFT
　7. MR. WEGG LOOKS AFTER HIMSELF"
　8. MR. BOFFIN IN CONSULTATION
　9. MR. AND MRS. BOFFIN IN CONSULTATION
　10. A MARRIAGE CONTRACT
　11. PODSNAPPERY
　12. THE SWEAT OF" AN HONEST MAN'S BROW
　13. TRACKING THE BIRD OF PREY
　14. THE BIRD O1," PREY BROUGHT DOWN
　15. Two NEW SERVANTS
　16. M1NDERS AND REMINDERS
　17. A DISMAL SWAMP
BOOK THE SECOND. BIRDS OF A FEATHER
　1. OF AN EDUCATIONAL CHARACTER
　2. STILL EDUCATIONAL
　3. A PIECE OF WORK
　4. CUPID PROMPTED
　5. MERCURY PROMPTING
　6. A RIDDLE WITHOUT AN ANSWER
　7. IN WHICH A FRIENDLY MOVE IS ORIGINATED
　8. IN WHICH AN INNOCENT ELOPEMENT OCCURS
　9. IN WHICH THE ORPHAN MAKES HIS WILL
　10. A SUCCESSOR
　11. SOME AFFAIRS OF THE HEART
　12. MORE BIRDS OF PREY
　13. A SOLO AND A DUETT
　14. STRONG OF PURPOSE
　15. THE WHOLE CASE SO FAR
　16. AN ANNIVERSARY OCCASION
BOOK THE THIRD. A LONG LANE
　1. LODGERS IN QUEER STREET
　2. A RESPECTED FRIEND IN A NEW ASPECT
　3. THE SAME RESPECTED FRIEND IN MORE ASPECTS THAN ONE
　4. A HAPPY RETURN OF THE DAY
　5. THE GOLDEN DUSTMAN FALLS INTO BAD COMPANY
　6. THE GOLDEN DUSTMAN FALLS INTO WORSE COMPANY
　7. THE FRIENDLY MOVE "FAKES UP A STRONG POSITION
　8. THE END OF A LONG JOURNEY
　9. SOMEBODY BECOMES THE SUBJECT OF A PREDICTION
　10. SCouTS OUT
　11. IN THE DARK
　12. MEANING MISCHIEF
　……
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