'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...'
Lucie Manette has been separated from her father for eighteen years while he languished in Paris's most feared prison, the Bastille. Finally reunited, the Manettes' fortunes become inextricably intertwined with those of two men, the heroic aristocrat Darnay and the dissolute lawyer Carton. Their story, which encompasses violence, revenge, love and redemption, is grippingly played out against the backdrop of the terrifying brutality of the French Revolution.
'Dickens's magnificent account of the revolution and one of his best (and shortest) novels' Observer
Charles Dickens was born in Hampshire on February 7, 1812. His father was a clerk in the navy pay office, who was well paid but often ended up in financial troubles. When Dickens was twelve years old he was send to work in a shoe polish factory because his family had been taken to the debtors' prison. Fagin is named after a boy Dickens disliked at the factory. His career as a writer of fiction started in 1833 when his short stories and essays began to appear in periodicals. The Pickwick Papers, his first commercial success, was published in 1836. In the same year he married the daughter of his friend George Hogarth, Catherine Hogarth. The serialisation of Oliver Twist began in 1837 while The Pickwick Papers was still running. Many other novels followed and The Old Curiosity Shop brought Dickens international fame and he became a celebrity in America as well as Britain. He separated from his wife in 1858. Charles Dickens died on 9 June 1870, leaving his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.
Title: A Tale of Two Cities (Vintage Dickens)
Author: Charles Dickens
ISBN: 9780099511854
Binding:
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Publication Date: 2008-09-04
Number of Pages: 448
Weight: 0.3221 kg
It is really one of his best. There are passages so spattered with violence and blood that you look out for the red blotches on the page in front of you...brilliantly plotted -- A.N. Wilson * Daily Telegraph *
Dickens's story of love, espionage and Anglo-French relations * Scotsman *
When I was very much younger I used to think that A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens was the most wonderful book in all the world. I was particularly moved by Sydney Carton dying in the place of Charles Evremonde and thought this was a wonderful act but, in fact, of course in later years if you read it, it becomes an incredibly selfish act -- Anne Widdecombe * Independent *
Dickens writes about Parisian and London society with such grittiness and truth, you become immersed -- Anne Charleston (Madge from Neighbours!!)
Dickens's magnificent account of the revolution and one of his best (and shortest) novels * Observer *
