A Tale of Two Cities Vol. I

The story of 'A Tale of Two Cities' is set in the late 18th Century in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. 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. It was published in weekly installments from April 1859 to November 1859 in Dickens's new literary periodical titled 'All the Year Round'. This novel is regarded as one of Dickens's most popular and most innovative works.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.The book is perhaps best known for its opening lines It was the best of times it was the worst of times and for Carton's last speech in which he says of his replacing Darnay in a prison cell 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.About the AuthorCharles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 - 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He 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. Born in Portsmouth 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.