A Tale of Two Cities (Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels) Unabridged Edition

by Charles Dickens (Author)

6,062 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0486406510

ISBN-10: 9780486406510

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Against the backdrop of the French Revolution, Charles Dickens unfolds his masterpiece of drama, adventure, courage, and romance about a man falsely accused of treason.

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. It is a coincidence that saves Darnay from certain doom more than once.

This classic novel is brilliantly plotted, rich in drama, romance, and heroics that culminate in a daring prison escape in the guillotine's shadow. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" when injustice was met by a lust for vengeance, and rarely was a distinction made between the innocent and the guilty. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens critiques both the conditions leading up to the French Revolution (abuse of power by the aristocracy) and the Revolution itself (the Reign of Terror), offering dualities of political commentary as the ultimate backdrop for an engrossing work of historical fiction.

Dover's Thrift Editions library of classic literature is a top choice for teachers, students, librarians, and recreational readers around the world, offering exceptional value in classic fiction, nonfiction, plays, and poetry.

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From the Publisher

tale of two cities classic french revolution fiction Paris

Against the backdrop of the French Revolution

This classic novel is brilliantly plotted, rich in drama, romance, and heroics that culminate in a daring prison escape in the guillotine's shadow. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" when injustice was met by a lust for vengeance, and rarely was a distinction made between the innocent and the guilty. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens critiques both the conditions leading up to the French Revolution and the Revolution itself (the Reign of Terror), offering dualities of political commentary as the ultimate backdrop for an engrossing work of historical fiction.

A Tale of Two Cities guillotine bastille darnay

Charles Dickens unfolds his masterpiece of drama, adventure, courage, and romance about a man falsely accused of treason

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. It is a coincidence that saves Darnay from certain doom more than once.

It was the best of times it was the worst of times

Dover's Thrift Editions library of classic literature is a top choice for teachers, students, librarians, and recreational readers around the world, offering exceptional value in classic fiction, nonfiction, plays, and poetry.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back 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.

About the Author

After a childhood blighted by poverty, commercial success came early to Charles Dickens (1812-70). By the age of 24, he was an international sensation whose new novels were eagerly anticipated. Two centuries later, Dickens' popularity endures as readers revel in the warm humanity and rollicking humor of his tales of self-discovery.

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0486406512
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dover Publications; Unabridged edition (December 31, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780486406510
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0486406510
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 710L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.8 x 7.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #106,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #188 in Literature
- #3,789 in Classic Literature & Fiction
- #9,406 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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Charles Dickens
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Charles Dickens was born in 1812 near Portsmouth where his father was a clerk in the navy pay office. The family moved to London in 1823, but their fortunes were severely impaired. Dickens was sent to work in a blacking-warehouse when his father was imprisoned for debt. Both experiences deeply affected the future novelist. In 1833 he began contributing stories to newspapers and magazines, and in 1836 started the serial publication of Pickwick Papers. Thereafter, Dickens published his major novels over the course of the next twenty years, from Nicholas Nickleby to Little Dorrit. He also edited the journals Household Words and All the Year Round. Dickens died in June 1870.
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Paper Mill Press
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Paper Mill Press is proud to present a timeless collection of unabridged literary classics to a twenty-first century audience. Each original master work is reimagined into a sophisticated yet modern format with custom suede-like metallic foiled covers.
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Mya Zwicky

Highs and lows; easy and hard.

Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2020

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2.5 stars

I really struggled to rate this... So call it 2.5 - 3 stars.

I also really struggled with the first part of the book. Almost gave up once or twice. But I am stubborn.

It was a weird reading experience: at times I'd re-read the same sentence/paragraph over and over and still not be able to make any sense of it. At other times the pages would fly by easily and I quite enjoyed it. I do think the lack of context made some difference (context both of common phrases of the time and also the cities). Reading it on my Kindle did help somewhat because I could look up some of the words.

I have read the story before (a children's version) so knew how it ended. I can't decide whether that made a (positive) difference or not. Would I have enjoyed the parts I did enjoy as much if I didn't know where the story was going? I'm not sure.

I have some more (unread) Charles Dickens on my Kindle. Will probably give him another try before I make a decision whether to continue reading his books or not.

27 people found this helpful

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C.Graham

A masterpiece.

Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2017

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A Tale of Two Cities is a definite favorite of mine. Despite being published in 1859, it still has the ability to draw the readier into the story and engage the mind. There are certainly elements of the book that we cannot relate to, living in this day and age. On the whole however, each person can find parallels and lessons applicable to their own life. Like many Dickens novels, there will be what seems like pages of useless details. It can be slow reading at times. Yet by the end of the book, everything comes together in a fantastic story and an ending that will leave you blown away. I can't recommend this book enough.

52 people found this helpful

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Tattooed Bibliophile

Burn marks

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2019

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This is a lovely collection, and I made sure to grab it early because at 10,000 copies each I knew they would sell out. I appreciate that they came with a plastic jacket to protect the book, but it is very cheap cellophane and is not meant to be kept on the books. The die cuts are EXTREMELY delicate and you have to be careful when pulling them off of the shelf when they are next to each other. One die cut can grab another on a second book and rip. I wish that they had come with better quality covers, I'm definitely going to need to cover them myself. In addition, there were slight brown marks on my books, and much more browning on the inside of the dust jackets, where it appears that the die cutting machine got too hot and actually burned the paper. I've contacted several other book collector friends who confirmed that their set was the same. But for the price, they are a decent collection. I hope that when the future seasons books come out that they will address these issues.

14 people found this helpful

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Travis Bughi

Yeah, not what I hoped

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2020

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I'm about 25% in and just too bored to continue. Still giving it 2 stars though because, well, I'm having trouble figuring out why I'm bored. Let me explain.

The only other book by Charles Dickens I've read was Great Expectations, which I wasn't much impressed with either. I thought this might be because I read that book in High School, but now I realize it's just Dickens' style that seems to lack a certain something to draw me in. At first glance, A Tale of Two Cities seems to have everything I would enjoy. Set in a historical point in time (I love history), written in descriptive and colorful prose (of which I thoroughly enjoy), I thought for sure I'd enjoy this read about 5% in. And yet, that's just not what happened.

Maybe it was lack of characterization, developing the wants and needs of characters beyond a superficial description of their looks and actions. Perhaps it was the lack of clear stakes, or maybe the purple prose was just a bit too much for me this time around or focused on things I just couldn't get interested in. Perhaps this was just the wrong book at the wrong time for me, and five years later or earlier, I would have loved it. I don't really know.

All I do know is that I hit the 25% mark and just couldn't care less what happens next, so I'm putting it down and moving on. I'd still recommend others give it a shot though. You might just love it.

8 people found this helpful

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The Huntington Book Depository

The best of Dickens, the worst of Dickens - but a handsome hardcover volume nonetheless

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2020

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I've always found Dickens to be challenging. He can paint such beautiful emotional scenes with his words (like in David Copperfield where the young boy's mother dies and he's sent away from his house to work). But other times the stories are just such saccharine filled morality tales you can hardly slog your way through them.
In A Tale of Two Cities, you'll get some of the best and some of the worst of Dickens. There's plenty of memorable scenes or quotes that you'll catch for the first time as you read it. But the characters are poorly sketched - angelic damsels in distress or evil bloodthirsty revolutionaries - the plot drags, and it probably is not going to rank in your top 5 of Dickens' best. But I guess for the devoted Dickens reader you feel like you've got to collect them all, trade with friends.

Really though you're buying this particular edition for a couple of key reasons. One is that the Everyman's Library hardcovers are stylish, durable books - and you get a chronology of the author's life and writings. Two is the foreword, which makes for useful reading both before the novel to understand where this book ranks with Dickens' other work. This is something you're not going to get from other cheaper paperback editions, and it's well worth the investment in this copy for this thinking on the subject matter.

10 people found this helpful

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Sarah Swanick

I read it for school, but loved it nonetheless

Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2018

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I read this book because it was on the AP suggested reading list. This book talks about terrible things, like torture and the French reign of terror, but the author uses such beautiful language that I never wanted to stop reading it. Each character is described so well that even the minor characters are unforgettable. I highly recommend the audio book that went with it as well.

19 people found this helpful

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Sarah Brown

Demanding

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 21, 2018

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Phew, I didn't think I would make it to the end. Classic novels, in general, require concentration and a clear head. In my opinion, reading Dickens needs these qualities and a large dose of dedication. 'A Tale of Two Cities' needs even more - the historical element means there is a lot of take in which even pushed and challenged me to muddy my enjoyment. As such, I often found I had to unwillingly put this book down - eye-strain and a novel-inducing headache from the intensity of Dickens work.

If you haven't come across this novel before, it's the one that famously begins: 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times'. Yes, there's your small fact for a pub quiz. Set in the time of eighteenth century London and France, there is a lot of history as Dickens describes the bloodied and violent streets of Paris. With the guillotine ominously hanging over society, (pun definitely intended!), many innocent civilians are somewhat slaughtered as the spies close in. There's a fair bit of fighting in this novel, a lot of chat and even more description. Lacking the humour of say, Austin, Dickens grimly portrays a social mess that I found confusing and difficult to properly appreciate. In honesty, it was the final part of the novel that I enjoyed the most and one where I really understood what was going on!

There are plenty of classic novels out there and a range of Dickens to encounter. I won't read this again; I am glad I did but would try a different one to see if I enjoyed it more.

37 people found this helpful

M. Dowden

Always Popular

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 20, 2021

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The second of Charles Dickens’s two historical novels, this one takes us back to the French Revolution, with the tale taking place in London and Paris. It does have to be admitted that this is not the most accurate portrayals of the period, but what it lacks in historical accuracy it makes up for in drama. As with Dickens’s other novels this was first serialized before being published as a book. Dickens did use some sources for this novel, including referring to Thomas Carlyle’s work, amongst others, and according to Peter Ackroyd also a possible source was a certain play being put on at the time, which led to certain accusations of plagiarism. Despite that though, this has always proved somewhat popular, and definitely more so than his first historical novel, Barnaby Rudge.

Taking place over a number of years, so our story first opens in 1775, where a former prisoner, thought to be dead is found alive and brought to England from France. With the saying ‘Recalled to Life’ so our story gets under way, and we have revolutionaries, spies and dastardly deeds aplenty. This does make for a good read, but somehow it ultimately lacks the magic that Dickens gave us in so many of his other works. The Paris scenes do not work as well as those set in London, which of course Dickens was so intimately familiar with, and also the scenes of warfare on the streets of Paris are only really impressionistic views from a distance, so for instance they cannot compare with the descriptions in something such as Les Misérables.

The plot is quite complex, and so should keep you reading through to the end, but this does ultimately show the limits of Dickens in his writing, because he tries to weave a tale that is obviously outside his comfort zone, although we do know that he wanted to tackle this. There is some symbolism here, and there is some insightful psychology, but ultimately this is not Dickens firing on all cylinders, especially when you think that his next novel was Great Expectations, which is a much better read. Although I think this is good, personally I have never rated this novel as one of his best, although I know some will differ with me. One good thing though with this is that Dickens does keep his views here quite apolitical, casting disdain at times on both the old and new ways of France, which does work well within this framework, as this tale is not a political one as such, only with regards to views on social reform, which we know the author was most passionate about.

2 people found this helpful

J. Pease

Probably my favourite book of all time

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 20, 2021

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**Contains mild spoilers/quotes

I cannot begin to express how much I love this book. I first read it in 1986 before my 'O' Levels the following summer (it was part of the English Lit syllabus) and I reckon I have read it upwards of 20 times since.
In many respects, this is different to Dickens' other works. It is much shorter for one thing and unlike novels such as Bleak House, all the various strands are brought together by the end, with no dead-ends or red herrings. Additionally, not a word in this is wasted. There is much use of foreshadowing, for example spilled wine foretells of the spilling of blood come the revolution:
The time was to come when that wine too would be spilled on the street-stones and when the
stain of it would be red upon many there.

The sun is used in a similar way:
The sunset struck so brilliantly into the travelling carriage that the occupant was steeped in crimson. "It will die out" said Monsieur the Marquis, glancing at his hands...

There are great characters, too. Jerry Cruncher is a favourite and the source of humour, some of it quite dark . Errand 'boy' for Tellson's Bank by day, 'fisherman' (i.e.grave robber) by night. He goes to bed with clean boots and gets up with muddy boots, much to the consternation of his son.
The best character for me has to be the malevolent, vengeful and implacable Thérèse Defarge:
"Tell wind and fire when to stop" returned Madame "but don't tell me"
Wonderful book!

3 people found this helpful

Inkspill

Penguin edition (ASIN: B002RI9IOM) for kindle

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 15, 2019

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Dickens spins a good yarn; this is a story full of sub-plots and some interesting one-dimensional characters. What kept me hooked right to the end was the tension and how the characters and scenes came to life, I particularly enjoyed the comical vignettes, a nice touch to lighten the ominous moments.

ASIN: B002RI9IOM is edited and has an intro by Richard Maxwell. This Penguin edition also includes: Acknowledgements; Introduction; A Dickens Chronology; A Timeline; Further Reading; A Note on the Text; Appendix I On the Illustrations; Appendix II Dedication and Preface to First Volume Edition; Appendix III Dickens and His Sources; Appendix IV Running Titles Added in 1867– 8; and Notes.

I enjoyed reading this on kindle, a click took me to footnotes, the search facility came in handy and I could enlarge the wonderful illustrations by Phiz.

5 people found this helpful

davidreviews

Dull - actively avoid

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2020

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Had a spell of wanting to read a load of the classic books, anything from To KIll a Mockingbird, to Animal Farm and 1984, to War of the Worlds, the old Dickens books, Lord of the Flies and much else. Very varied and not genre specific and generally enjoyed them. Not this one though. This is dull, with awkward writing and no great appealing elements. I would avoid, not even suggesting its worth a try.

4 people found this helpful

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A Tale of Two Cities (Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels) Unabridged Edition

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Against the backdrop of the French Revolution

Charles Dickens unfolds his masterpiece of drama, adventure, courage, and romance about a man falsely accused of treason

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From the Back Cover

About the Author

Product details

About the authors

Charles Dickens

Paper Mill Press

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