A Tale of Two Cities
'Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; -- the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!' After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the ageing Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There the lives of two very different men,...
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'Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; -- the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!'
After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the ageing Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There the lives of 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 roads of London, they are drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror, and they soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine.
This edition uses the text as it appeared in its serial publication in 1859 to convey the full scope of Dickens's vision, and includes the original illustrations by H. K. Browne ('Phiz'). Richard Maxwell's introduction discusses the intricate interweaving of epic drama with personal tragedy.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780141439600 (0141439602)
Publish date: 27-05-2003
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Pages no: 544
Edition language: English
The list of ‘classic books’ yet to fill my waking hours is long, but whilst I am embarked on a lengthy (albeit belated) campaign to put that right, I was inspired to elevate this Dickens novel based on a recommendation read in ‘The Big Issue’. Alas, I don’t remember the name of the celebrity endorse...
I read A Tale of Two Cities in high school and remembered only a few major characters, the setting, and of course, the knitting. Rereading it after decades of immersion in more recent fiction, I was intrigued by things I never questioned or noticed as a high school junior. The omniscient narrator ...
It's true, and I hate to say that I didn't like it, because I am a Dickens fan through and through. But this was a tough one for me, probably because I never connected with any of the characters enough to really care about them. Miss Pross was my favorite -- she actually DID something worth rootin...
I'd somehow, up to this point, never read A Tale of Two Cities. I know, I can't believe it either. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution and the years leading up to it, this is, at its very core, a romance novel. I was a little shocked by that, but I certainly didn't mind. Dickens's writ...
Not my favorite by Dickens, but still a good novel.
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