Our Mutual Friend follows the mental state of a man about to commit the greatest of crimes. It is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. Dickens explores the conflict between doing what society expects and the idea of being true to oneself. The novel centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quoting from the character Bella Wilfer in the book, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life."

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, some reviewers suggested that Dickens was, in fact, experimenting with structure, and that the characters, considered somewhat flat and not recognized by the contemporary reviewers, were meant rather to be true representations of the Victorian working class and the key to understanding the structure of the society depicted by Dickens in the novel.

This case laminate collector's edition includes a Victorian inspired dust-jacket.