A Tale of Two Cities

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This captivating tale, set in London and Paris at the time of the French Revolution, reveals the central choice confronting every society and each individual: Should a person work to change society or should the revolution occur within his heart?

350 pages, Audio CD

First published November 26,1859

This edition

Format
350 pages, Audio CD
Published
March 1, 2005 by Blackstone Audiobooks
ISBN
9780786180394
ASIN
0786180390
Language
English
Characters More characters
  • Sydney Carton

    Sydney Carton

    An insolent, indifferent, and alcoholic attorney who works with Stryver. Carton has no real prospects in life and doesnt seem to be in pursuit of any. He does, however, love Lucie, and his feelings for her eventually transform him into a man of profound m...

  • Charles Darnay

    Charles Darnay

    A French aristocrat by birth, Darnay chooses to live in England because he cannot bear to be associated with the cruel injustices of the French social system. Darnay displays great virtue in his rejection of the snobbish and cruel values of his uncle, the...

  • Lucie Manette
  • Madame Therese Defarge

    Madame Therese Defarge

    A vengeful female revolutionary, arguably the novels antagonistmore...

  • Dr. Alexandre Manette

    Dr. Alexandre Manette

    Lucies father, kept a prisoner in the Bastille for eighteen years.more...

About the author

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Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.

Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.

Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.

On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.

(from Wikipedia)

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