Our Mutual Friend: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Our Mutual Friend, credited to Charles Dickens, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens, in the public domain. The LibriVox catalog page for this work lists the LibriVox readers. Dickens’ last complete novel was published serially 1864-5. It begins with an intriguing fortune offered to John Harmon by his late father, a rich dust contractor, in his will. To receive the money, John must marry a certain Bella Wilfer who he does not know from Eve. He is returning from the exile enforced by his father and confides in a ship’s mate who attempts to murder him. The mate gets killed instead, leaving one inconvenient corpse. Because John is considered dead (the body is found with his papers), the money passes to Mr Boffin, old Harmon’s foreman. Harmon adopts Bella and John comes into his employ disguised as John Rokesmith. Bella does not fall for John but through kindly Boffin’s contrivances learns to hate money and fall for her suitor under his false name. Eventually she learns of his true identity as the Boffins had previously, and the villainous one-legged Silas Wegg’s plot to blackmail Mr Boffin is brought to light. There is also a story running behind the main plot about a certain Eugene Wrayburn and his love for Lizzie Hexam, and his rival’s attempt to murder him. The two plots are only really connected through the waterside murders but it allows Dickens to indulge in an extremely socially diverse cast of characters. (Summary written by Alan Chant). For more information on LibriVox, or to volunteer, please see:

Recording facts

• Recording title: Our Mutual Friend
• Author credits: Charles Dickens
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 68
• Listed recording duration: 33:26:04

Opening tracks: first 24 of 68

1. Book 1, Chapter 01 - On The Lookout — 10:30
2. Book 1, Chapter 02 - The Man From Somewhere — 28:04
3. Book 1, Chapter 03 - Another Man — 30:07
4. Book 1, Chapter 04 - The R. Wilfer Family — 27:13
5. Book 1, Chapter 05 - Boffin's Bower — 45:22
6. Book 1, Chapter 06 - Cut Adrift — 39:13
7. Book 1, Chapter 07 - Mr Wegg Looks After Himself — 28:14
8. Book 1, Chapter 08 - Mr Boffin In Consultation — 39:11
9. Book 1, Chapter 09 - Mr and Mrs Boffin in Consultation — 43:42
10. Book 1, Chapter 10 - A Marriage Contract — 32:56
11. Book 1, Chapter 11 - Podsnappery — 40:22
12. Book 1, Chapter 12 - The Sweat of an Honest Man's Brow — 39:35
13. Book 1, Chapter 13 - Tracking the Bird of Prey — 22:09
14. Book 1, Chapter 14 - The Bird of Prey Brought Down — 18:56
15. Book 1, Chapter 15 - Two New Servants — 34:45
16. Book 1, Chapter 16 - Minders and Re-Minders — 39:34
17. Book 1, Chapter 17 - A Dismal Swamp — 12:54
18. Book 2, Chapter 01 - Of an Educational Character — 42:05
19. Book 2, Chapter 02 - The Man from Somewhere — 25:28
20. Book 2, Chapter 03 - A Piece Of Work — 22:07
21. Book 2, Chapter 04 - Cupid Prompted — 24:40
22. Book 2, Chapter 05 - Mercury Prompting — 38:31
23. Book 2, Chapter 06 - A Riddle Without An Answer — 40:38
24. Book 2, Chapter 07 - In Which a Friendly Move is Originiated — 23:32

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.