By Charles Dickens

From Wikipedia: Our Mutual Friend, written in 1864–1865, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quoting the book's character Bella Wilfer, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life".[1]

Most reviewers in the 1860s continued to praise Dickens's skill as a writer in general, but did not review this novel in detail. Some found the plot both too complex and not well laid out.[2] The Times of London found the first few chapters did not draw the reader into the characters. In the 20th century, however, reviewers began to find much to approve in the later novels of Dickens, including Our Mutual Friend.[3] In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, some reviewers suggested that Dickens was, in fact, experimenting with structure,[4][5] and that the characters considered somewhat flat and not recognized by the contemporary reviewers[6] 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.[6][7]

London. Chapman & Hall. 1865. 970p.

By Steele Rudd

"We want a man," Fahey added, "who'll go to Brisbane an' put the sufferances of the farmers plainly an'— an'—well before Parliament—a man who'll talk t' thim, an' talk straightforredly t' thim, an'—an'—tell thim what's right an'—an' what ought t' be done. An' there's no one can do it better'n yeou."

Dad stared at the floor in silence. He seemed impressed with Fahey's argument.

So began Dad's career in Politics, and although he doesn't know much about Parliamentary protocol, he is determined to have his say; his spectacular entry into the House, his subsequent brushes with the long-suffering Speaker, and portraits of the Member for Fillemupagen, the Minister for Lands, the Premier and the Treasurer, and the "Chesterfield", make this one of the wittiest criticisms of its kind. The book was written not long after Rudd had been retrenched from the Public Service, and he worked off a personal grudge by making many of his characters clearly recognizable among the State politicians of the day—small wonder that there were moves to have him called before the bar of the house and disciplined.

Steele Rudd's works are now part of the Australian image, and his chief heroes, Dad and Dave, part of the Australian myth. They have, unhappily, been out of print for a long time, and a whole generation has grown up without knowing characters who were a household word to their parents and grandparents. People who have never read Steele Rudd can now appreciate a unique part of the Australian heritage; and those who do know his characters will doubtless be glad to renew old acquaintances and memories.

Sydney. Bookstall. 1908. 304p.