Our Mutual Friend
The Audible Dickens Collection
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Our Mutual Friend
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Narrated by:
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Meera Syal
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Lucinda Hawksley - introduction
About this listen
This definitive performance of Our Mutual Friend - Dickens' final completed novel - features expert narration by Meera Syal and an exclusive introduction written and read by Lucinda Hawksley, great-great-great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Hawksley is a biographer, author and lecturer whose wealth of knowledge on Dickens is both research-led and personal. She introduces us to the themes in Our Mutual Friend and tells us how they connect to the life of Dickens himself.
Full of both satire and social analysis, Our Mutual Friend looks at what could happen in Victorian England when a fortune passes to a working-class couple. The audiobook will enchant the listener with its larger-than-life characters, its poignant depiction of social injustice and the singular seed of hope with which Dickens hints at the possibility of a better tomorrow.
About the author
Having experienced the incarceration of his father, Charles Dickens had to abandon his studies at a young age and set to work in a factory so as to support himself. Despite his short-lived education, Dickens went on to write 15 novels, various articles, novellas and short stories. He lectured and led campaigns for children's rights and education and arguably became the ultimate self-made man.
About the narrator
Comedian, writer and actor Meera Syal rose to prominence as one of the creators of comedy sketch show Goodness Gracious Me and cemented herself as a household name in the UK portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No. 42.
Multitalented Syal has penned novels, scripts and screenplays as well as lending her vocals to various songs and albums. Here she uses her voice to tell our Dickensian story with all the mastery you would expect from this talented performer.
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Behind the scenes with Meera Syal
The British comedian and narrator of Our Mutual Friend shares her thoughts on Dickens' final completed novel.What listeners say about Our Mutual Friend
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- sora
- 08-04-18
Not the narrator for me
Prefer David Timson by far, sorry. I really wanted to like Meera Syal but I didn't understand why some of the London characters didn't have London voices and it started to grate after a while. Also I felt the pace of the narration was a bit slow. Great story and characters, as always.
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12 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 26-12-19
Stick with it!
I found this a little hard going at first with so many characters being introduced but was totally absorbed by the end.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
- gerrard
- 23-01-21
Brilliant narration of much loved classi
I loved every minute of this book being brought to life as the author intended.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- adam200982
- 10-06-18
Dickens at his very best !
Wonderfly narrated. Charles Dickens epic classic is beautifully delivered. A great tale that touches on the expectations of society and the perils trappings and evils of money
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- floremolla
- 23-12-19
Fairly enjoyable listen but poorly edited
Not sure whether I just got a dud copy but it had numerous instances of repetition of the narration which seemed to be where Ms Syal had done a second take on a passage but the original one wasn't edited out.
Otherwise, I quite enjoy the narration - not being English I can't join the debate about how good or otherwise the accents were - some struck me as being more northern than London but given the wide range of characters I guessed it was to help distinguish between them. Worked for me.
Dickens' created some memorable characters in Our Mutual Friend and there are some good sub-plots. Overall I enjoyed the story, but with some caveats, i.e. he did go on a bit at times (to the point of silliness), the plot was rather convoluted and there were some comments about African kings we would consider racist nowadays (although he did try to address accusations of antisemitism by having sympathetic Jewish characters in this novel).
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous
- 21-07-24
Meera Syal’s performance is outstanding
Despite how great the tales are, I’ve always found Dickens tough to stick with. However, I think that Meera Syal’s performance of this story is possibly the best I’ve heard in any audiobook. She kept me listening intently to the end, and kept me engaged in what’s turned out to be an excellent, meandering story, full of twists and distinctly Dickensian villains. I’m very happy that Syal’s kept me company on my commutes recently.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Catherine Molly
- 28-08-22
Confusion of character voices...
I was listening to this audiobook whilst reading the physical copy at the same time and the narrator frequently mixes up characters voices making it difficult to follow at times.
Otherwise it was an enjoyable book and I'm so glad I persevered!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Emma
- 15-09-19
Meera Syal is totally outstanding.
It's of course a great story, and there are so many characters it can be hard to keep them all in one's head; but Ms Syal was extraordinaily good at creating differnt voices for the different characters that following the story was a breeze!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nancie Buckland
- 18-08-19
warm and lovely performance
what a treat, probably my favourite Dickens novel read with warmth, sympathy and of course humour by the lovely Meera Syal. Feels just like being read to by a best friend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Andrew Thornton
- 07-10-19
Hugely satisfying
There are so many good things in this, one of Dickens's most socially cutting stories, it's hard to know where to begin. He wears his social conscience on his sleeve throughout, though his carefully woven, complex tale-telling doesn't suffer and you can be sure he leaves no loose ends. Hugely satisfying and entertaining as he is, Meera Syal gives a superb performance and she must take enormous credit for her rendition of a diverse and numerous cast of characters with convincing and distinctive voices. Fantastic work, thank you.
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