‘A Tale of Two Cities’ is Charles Dickens’ epic tale of the French revolution and has often been praised as one of the finest works of this legendary writer.
The story begins with the release of a prisoner, Dr. Manette, who has been held for eighteen years in the Bastille. The frail and now mentally damaged doctor is introduced to his daughter Lucie – whom he has never met – and the two of them travel to England to begin a new life.
We then meet Charles Darnay, a young French emigre on trial for treason against the British Crown, who is acquitted when one of the eyewitnesses to his alleged crimes is confronted with a barrister – Sidney Carton – who could be Darnay’s twin. Carton and Darnay both vie for the hand of Lucie Manette, but Darnay wins out…before being arrested and sentenced to die by the guillotine.
Filled with unforgettable characters – including the cruel and vengeful Madame Defarge, who uses a secret code to knit the names of alleged traitors into her creations – ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ has been adapted to the stage and screen numerous times. The novel is presented here in its original and unabridged format.
About the author
Charles Dickens was born February 7, 1812 in Landport, Portsmouth, the second of eight children to John and Elizabeth Dickens. Dickens’ father had great difficulty managing his affairs and was often under the burden of crushing debt, which culminated in his imprisonment in Marshalsea debtor’s prison in 1824. As a result, Dickens was forced to leave school and begin work at a boot-blacking factory to assist in getting the family out of debt, an experience that would allow Dickens to sympathize with the plight of the poor and destitute that would last his entire life. Dickens took to writing immediately and, in 1833, he published his first story: A Dinner at Popular Walk in Monthly Magazine. The following year, he began writing under the pseudonym Boz and released a collection of short stories entitled Sketches by Boz in 1836. That same year he married Catherine Hogarth, daughter of the editor of the Evening Chronicle. They had 10 children before they separated in 1858. From 1836 to 1837, Dickens serialized what would become the novel The Pickwick Papers, which was an immediate sensation and became one of his most popular works, released in book form in 1837. Encouraged by this success, Dickens began writing at a furious and astonishing rate, producing (in serial form) some of his most favorite novels: Oliver Twist (1837-39), Nicholas Nickleby (1838-39), as well as The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge (1840-41). After that, Dickens barely paused for the rest of his career. He would regularly release a book ever year or so for the next two decades, including American Notes, his five Christmas Books (including, of course, A Christmas Carol), David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations. Charles Dickens suffered a stroke on June 9, 1870 at died at Gad’s Hill. Buried in the Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey.
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