Product Description

After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille the aging Dr Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil lanes of London, they are all drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror and soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4502 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

About the Author
Charles Dickens was born at Portsmouth on 7 February 1812. He received little formal education, but taught himself shorthand and became a reporter of parliamentary debates for the <I>Morning Chronicle</I>. He began to publish sketches in various periodicals, which were subsequently republished as Sketches by Boz. <I>The Pickwick Papers</I> were published in 1836–7 and after a slow start became a publishing phenomenon and Dickens's characters the centre of a popular cult. He began <I>Oliver Twist</I> in 1837, followed by <I>Nicholas Nickleby</I> (1838) and <I>The Old Curiosity Shop</I> (1840–41).After finishing <I>Barnaby Rudge</I> (1841) Dickens set off for America; he went full of enthusiasm for the young republic but, in spite of a triumphant reception, he returned disillusioned. His experiences are recorded in <I>American Notes</I> (1842). <I>Martin Chuzzlewit</I> (1843–4) did not repeat its predecessors' success but this was quickly redressed by the huge popularity of the Christmas Books, of which the first, <I>A Christmas Carol</I>, appeared in 1843. During 1844–6 Dickens travelled abroad and he began <I>Dombey and Son</I> while in Switzerland. This and <I>David Copperfield</I> (1849–50) were more serious in theme and more carefully planned than his early novels. In later works, such as <I>Bleak House</I> (1853) and <I>Little Dorrit</I> (1857), Dickens's social criticism became more radical and his comedy more savage. Charles Dickens died on 9 June 1870.

Customer Reviews

Excellent
I have somehow managed to avoid reading A Tale of Two Cities until very recently. I have always been a big fan of Dickens' Christmas stories, but had avoided anything much longer, having picked up the opinion somewhere that all the novels suffered from the lack of a good editor. I had imagined dozens of pages of bleak boredom in between each set-piece, and the feeling of being short-changed for my effort at the end. For all I know this may describe the general Dickens experience, but there were, I had heard, a few exceptions to the general rules of excessive description and pointless verbosity. And I have undoubtedly found one of them in A Tale of Two Cities.

It's the story of an ex-Bastille prisoner and his daughter, who, thanks to their connection with a young French emigrant in flight from his past, are drawn back to France and sucked into the Reign of Terror in the wake of the French Revolution. It's fair to say that Dickens takes a while to get things moving, and that it's some time before the plot gains any real momentum, but there certainly isn't anything you could describe as boring along the way. Apart from the lively characters, vivid descriptions of Paris and London, and frequent, understated humour, there is the historical interest to be had in the account of the French Revolution. We see the storm slowly building among the poverty-stricken citizens of the city and the provincial villages, and bursting with the attack on the Bastille and the many smaller (but no less violent) uprisings all over the country. Dickens' commentary on the revolution is largely taken up with criticism of everyone involved. In condemning both the selfish oligarchs who brought the revolution on themselves, and the bloodthirsty `patriots' who executed it, he confounds any simple expectation that a vehement critic of oppressive regimes should automatically be a fan of revolutionary justice. In language appropriate to the excesses of each camp, he shows us that the institutional cruelty, and the violent reaction against it, were equally gruesome distortions of human nature, with the Republic having no better claims to Liberty, Equality and Fraternity than the murderous system it overthrew.

Instead of supporting either of these alternatives, he shows us a brighter vision of humanity in the virtues of the central family and its close friends, in their love, loyalty, industry and charity - and ultimately in the sacrifice which is the final and highest expression of love, and which the Republic couldn't possibly understand or accommodate. The contrast between the solid goodness of ordinary human loves and aspirations, and the atmosphere of hatred and suspicion pervading the new ideology, is perfect.

The book is worth reading for the incredible blend of pathos and optimism in the final few pages alone. Overall, it is intelligent, funny, exciting and inspiring, and as such has encouraged me to brave another Dickens novel at my earliest opportunity.

The most unforgettable opening and closing sentences ever found in a book!
I will never, the rest of my life forget these two sentences. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...." and at closing "It is a far, far, better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known."

Wow, this is not your usual Dickens. No quirky characters with strange names and laugh out loud moments, just a darn good story -- the story of two cities, London and Paris. It is difficult to put the plot into words, but when the book begins you are in London at the time of the American revolution and spies (or suspected spies) abound, and the story eventually switches to France prior to and during the French revolution.

Dickens does a marvelous job (as always) of building his story one step at a time and slowly peeling back the layers one at a time. This is not a put down and pick it up a week later kind of a book, it is very intense and complicated and you have to pay close attention. I was just floored at how he sucked me in with his descriptions of the mobs, terror and the madness of the revolution leading you to a nail biting finish. I admit to holding my breath during those last few pages!

Highly recommended, and well worth the time to discover (or rediscover) an old classic.

Brilliant but a warning
I received this book as a Sunday School Prize when I was Eleven years old. Unfortunately I was too young and attempting to read it put me off Dickens for Twenty Years. I did not get passed thirty odd pages. I found the long descriptions of Paris at the begining very difficult, as was the complete lack of Humour. When I returned to the book twenty years later I really enjoyed it. But by this time I had become a Dickens Fan having marvelled at David Copperfied, Great Expectations, The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist. It is a wonderful book but perhaps not the ideal Dickens for a youngster to start on.