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.
A Tale of Two Cities
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"I've come to prefer Oxford's editions of my texts because of the usefulness of the explanatory notes and above all the inclusion of vital contextual information about publishing practices (serialization dates, etc.) and historical background that are essential to my nethod of instruction."--Prof. Martha Holmes, Univ. of Colorado
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
67 of 69 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most unforgettable opening and closing sentences ever found in a book!
1 July 2007
By Misfit
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
71 of 74 people found the following review helpful
By Peter Reeve
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
The period from 1775 - the outbreak of the American Revolution - to 1789 - the storming of the Bastille - is the turbulent setting of this uncharacteristic Dickens novel. It is his only novel that lacks comic relief, is one of only two that are not set in nineteenth-century England and is also unusual in lacking a primary central character. London and Paris are the real protagonists in this tale, much as the cathedral was the 'hero' of Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris. Dickens was writing at a time of great turmoil in his personal life, having just separated from his wife, and no doubt the revolutionary theme was in tune with his mental state.
The result is a complex, involving plot with some of the best narrative writing to be found anywhere, and the recreation of revolutionary Paris is very convincing. The device of having two characters that look identical may seem hackneyed to modern readers, but it is here employed with greater plausibility than in Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson or Collins's The Woman in White.
Dickens was inspired to write this story by reading Carlyle's newly published history of the French Revolution. Those events and their aftermath stood in relation to their time much as World Wars I and II do to ours, that is, fading from living memory into history, yet their legacy still very much with us. In many nineteenth-century novels, especially Russian and British works, you get a sense of unease among the aristocracy that the revolution will spread to their own back yard. In the case of Russia, of course, it eventually did.
I have often recommended A Tale of Two Cities as a good introduction to Dickens for younger readers. This is based on my own experiences, because it was a set book in my English Literature class when I was 15 and I remember thoroughly enjoying it.
... Read more ›63 of 66 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
In most of his novels, Charles Dickens sticks to one central theme - love. "A Tale of Two Cities" faithfully adheers to this principle, yet, as with every Dickens book, retains a certain individuality and freshness.
The story is perhaps a little slow to start, but that matters little. Not only is it difficult to stop reading the novel after a while, given the many little mysteries Dickens hints at throughout, but it is next to impossible not to be absorbed into the lives of the central characters and feel a certain closeness to them. It also notable that the devoted love displayed by so many of the novels cast does not seem at all implausable or out of place, despite the cold and uncaring backdrop used - the French Revolution
"A Tale Of Two Cities" leaves you feeling both thourghly happy and extremely sad, such is the skill with which Charles Dickens - beyond any doubt a master of his craft - tells this moving tale.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"...the picturesque confusion of houses and the cathedral shone bright in the light of the moon, the day came coldly, looking like a dead face out of the sky."
I have been a fan of Dickens ever since the opening two paragraphs of Bleak House threw me into the Megalosaurus-inhabited foggy streets of London. To read any Dickens work is to be placed into the hands of one of the English language's masters; he is an unsurpassed genius of the sentence; a craftsman; a wordsmith and an artist. He is also, particularly in this work, a storyteller.
A Tale of Two Cities, in Dickens' own words, is "[T]he best story I have written" and is undoubtedly one of his most moving, exciting and memorable works. It builds with slow burning intensity, introducing us to the richly imagined characters who are to shape, and be shaped, by events far bigger, and with a greater sense of history, then they could ever imagine. Individual lives in London and Paris, are brought together with an inexorable sense of destiny, to one of literature's greatest finales, that is played out on the bloody streets of Paris, under the shadow of the guillotine.
Dickens' tale is filled with tragedy and despair, desperation and horror, but against this are pitted the greatest of human characteristics: loyalty, compassion, love and self-sacrifice. A Tale of Two Cities is responsible for some of the finest opening and closing lines in English literature, some of its most memorable characters, and an ending of such poignant intensity that even the hardest of hearts will weep.... Read more ›
I have been a fan of Dickens ever since the opening two paragraphs of Bleak House threw me into the Megalosaurus-inhabited foggy streets of London. To read any Dickens work is to be placed into the hands of one of the English language's masters; he is an unsurpassed genius of the sentence; a craftsman; a wordsmith and an artist. He is also, particularly in this work, a storyteller.
A Tale of Two Cities, in Dickens' own words, is "[T]he best story I have written" and is undoubtedly one of his most moving, exciting and memorable works. It builds with slow burning intensity, introducing us to the richly imagined characters who are to shape, and be shaped, by events far bigger, and with a greater sense of history, then they could ever imagine. Individual lives in London and Paris, are brought together with an inexorable sense of destiny, to one of literature's greatest finales, that is played out on the bloody streets of Paris, under the shadow of the guillotine.
Dickens' tale is filled with tragedy and despair, desperation and horror, but against this are pitted the greatest of human characteristics: loyalty, compassion, love and self-sacrifice. A Tale of Two Cities is responsible for some of the finest opening and closing lines in English literature, some of its most memorable characters, and an ending of such poignant intensity that even the hardest of hearts will weep.... Read more ›
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4.2 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great classic
It kept my interest, and described the country, and the times they lived in and the fear that existed at that time very well.
Published 8 hours ago by Peter Ferguson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting
"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. Read more
Published 1 day ago by ally b
5.0 out of 5 stars
French revolution lesson
Captivated from the first page and an interesting history lesson into the French revolution, before and during, from both British and French viewpoint
Published 1 day ago by Book Worm
4.0 out of 5 stars
HARD TO READ
A classic I wanted to read. Found it very difficult in this modern age to keep with the plot; found it difficult to remember which city I was in. Read more
Published 2 days ago by J3Rivers
2.0 out of 5 stars
overrated
maybe i'd overdosed on dickens (third in a row) but i found this put me off for a fair while. put me in mind of blackadder type ridiculous stereotypes! Read more
Published 3 days ago by Bea Bathe
4.0 out of 5 stars
good
downloaded for a kindle app and it was quick easy to use and didnt take up too muich space .
Published 7 days ago by lauren
1.0 out of 5 stars
I hope this isn't Dickens' best book!
Wonderful opening and closing sentences but I've had to read the reviews to make sense of what's going on, especially at the beginning. It's HARD GOING. Read more
Published 9 days ago by E. Roberts
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love love love this cover!
\i have managed to collect nearly all the clothbound classics and this definitely one of my favourites. Coralie Bickford-Smith is fantastic! Read more
Published 14 days ago by chubbagrubb
5.0 out of 5 stars
A first for me
Easy reading yet realistic and interesting for a particularly fraught time in the history of Paris compared to London town.
Published 16 days ago by Richard Henry Fletcher
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thank you
This was a free item, but I enjoyed it. I used to borrow books from a local library, but have begun to get something to read from Amazon. Thank you.
Published 18 days ago by White owl
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