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A Tale of Two Cities Paperback - 1998
by Charles Dickens
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About this book
Written by Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel that follows Manette, a French doctor imprisoned for 18 long years in Paris’s Bastille. Following his release, he goes to live in London with his daughter Lucie, who had never met him and believed him to be dead. Set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution and Reign of Terror, A Tale of Two Cities is a fictitious story that falls both into the historical and adventure genres. The famous book is one of the bestselling novels of all time, both for the atmosphere that Dickens’ creates and the tension he weaves. Full of love and brutality, A Tale of Two Cities exposes the highs and lows of humanity.
Reader reviews for A Tale of Two Cities
Review summary
Readers report a dense, unevenly paced classic: the early chapters feel slow and ornate, with limited character development, but the Paris-set final third is widely praised as tense and emotionally devastating. Many highlight Dickens’s quotable prose and incisive social critique of class violence, noting that guides or audiobooks helped with the style. While a minority abandoned it as dull or contrived, others call it a masterpiece whose ending justifies the effort.
Readers say this book is:
slow startdense prosedemanding readsocially incisiveviolentquotablelimited character depthrewardingemotionally powerfulgripping finaleWrite a review for this book
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From the publisher
From the rear cover
It was the time of the French Revolution a time of great change and great danger. It was a time when injustice was met by a lust for vengeance, and rarely was a distinction made between the innocent and the guilty. Against this tumultuous historical backdrop, Dickens' great story of unsurpassed adventure and courage unfolds.
Unjustly imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille, Dr. Alexandre Manette is reunited with his daughter, Lucie, and safely transported from France to England. It would seem that they could take up the threads of their lives in peace. As fate would have it though, the pair are summoned to the Old Bailey to testify against a young Frenchman Charles Darnay falsely accused of treason. Strangely enough, Darnay bears an uncanny resemblance to another man in the courtroom, the dissolute lawyer's clerk Sydney Carton.
Brilliantly plotted, the novel is rich in drama, romance, and heroics that culminate in a daring prison escape in the shadow of the guillotine.
First edition identification
A Tale of Two Cities was first published in 31 weekly installments in a journal called All the Year Round between April and November of 1859, and published in a book form in the same year. The publisher of the first book edition was Chapman and Hall, based in London. Original illustrations were done by H. K. Browne on 16 plates inserted into the book. The first edition is a hardcover, octavo book with maroon cloth covers. However, some first editions have had the binding refurbished. A key way to identify first editions of A Tale of Two Cities is that page 213 is misnumbered as “113.” Additionally, affectionately is misspelled as “affetcionately” on line 12, page 134. Finally, the signature “b” is present on the list of plate illustrations.
Details
- Title A Tale of Two Cities
- Author Charles Dickens
- Binding Paperback
- Edition Unabridged
- Pages 304
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Dover Publications, New York
- Publication date 1998-12-31
- Features Table of Contents
- ISBN 9780486406510 / 0486406512
- Weight 0.5 lbs (0.23 kg)
- Dimensions 7.9 x 5 x 0.8 in (20.07 x 12.70 x 2.03 cm)
- Age range 11 to UP years
- Grade levels 6 - UP
- Reading level 710
-
Themes
- Chronological Period: 18th Century
- Chronological Period: 19th Century
- Chronological Period: 1800-1850
- Cultural Region: British
- Cultural Region: French
- Cultural Region: Western Europe
- Category Literature - Classics / Criticism
- Library of Congress subjects Historical fiction, War stories
- Library of Congress Catalogue Number 98052971
- Dewey Decimal Code FIC
About the author
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A Tale of Two Cities (Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels)
by Charles Dickens
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by Charles Dickens
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A Tale of Two Cities (Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels)
by Charles Dickens
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A Tale of Two Cities
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