A Tale of Two Cities  (English, Paperback, Dickens Charles)

A Tale Of Two Cities, a page turner by Charles Dickens, tells the story of Charles Darnay, Sydney Carton, and Lucie Manette in the backdrop of the social upheaval and political turmoil before and during the French Revolution.

Summary Of The Book

Set in London and Paris, the novels unfolds the drama in the lives of the three protagonists who experience the French Revolution.

Dickens has themed this book around resurrection and bringing people back to life from the cruel and inevitable clutches of death. Lucie Manette nurses her father, Dr. Manette, back to health. He was imprisoned unjustly in the Bastille prison, and Lucie brings him to England. Darnay, another main character in the novel, is a former French aristocrat who is accused of treason against the English crown, and Carton is a dissolute English barrister who strives to reform his ill-spent life out of his love for Lucie.

Out of compassion, Carton saves Darnay’s life when he is accused of being a spy and a traitor. Darnay then works as tutor under an assumed name in England, while Carton is busy wasting his life in drinking and idling. Years later, both Carton and Darnay fall in love with Lucie, and she chooses Darnay over Carton and soon has a beautiful daughter with him.

The French Revolution breaks out in all its fury in Paris, and one of Darnay’s stewards is wrongly arrested. On hearing this, Darnay decides to return to Paris to rescue his faithful helper. Previously acquitted Darnay soon finds himself in trouble with the revolutionists, leaving his family helpless and vulnerable.

A Tale Of Two Cities sold over 200 million copies and has secured a firm place in the list of illustrious works in fictional literature. The novel was published in 31 weekly installments in Dickens' periodical called All the Year Round. The novel was adapted into movies, TV shows, musicals and radio shows.

About Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was a social critic and one of the finest English novelists of the Victorian period.

David Copperfield, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist were some of Dickens' other bestsellers.

Dickens’ work is famous for humour, keen observation of character and society, and vivid characterizations. He published his novels in installments, weekly and monthly, thus making them easily affordable to a greater number of people.

Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens had to quit school to work in a factory when his father was put into debtor’s prison. He wrote 15 novels, numerous short stories, 5 novellas and non-fiction articles, gave many lectures, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights all through his career. His short stories are immensely popular even today. He created some of the world’s most famous fictional characters of all time.