A Tale of Two Cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... The year was 1775 and Lucie Manette, a young self- sacrificing orphan, realised she had been living a lie. Her father, Doctor Manette, whom she had taken for dead was, in fact, alive. The self-exiled nephew of the Marquis Evrémonde, Charles Darnay was accused of treason in 1780; Madame Defarge, a victim of the French aristocracy, stitched a hidden registry of those condemned to die; and Sydney Carton, the brilliant yet dissolute alcoholic English lawyer in love with Lucie, were all battling the social ills that had besieged France and England. From the serene lanes of London, they were drawn against their will to the bloodstained streets of Paris at the peak of the Reign of Terror and soon the guillotine cast a lethal shadow over their lives. Originally published in 1859, in weekly instalments in All the Year Round, a British weekly literary magazine, A Tale of Two Cities is a masterpiece which captures the reader’s imagination through its haunting narrative of the French Revolution. A firm believer in the virtues of resurrection and transformation, Charles Dickens presents a moving account of sacrifice and redemption through his best-known work of historical fiction.

Born on 7 February 1812, in Portsmouth, Charles Dickens was one of the greatest novelists of the Victorian era. He created some of the most intriguing fictional characters in literature. The author’s success began with the 1836 publication of the Pickwick Papers, following which he became an international celebrity. Known for his humour, satire and incisive representation of society through his characters, his literary triumphs include A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, and Great Expectations. A literary colossus of his time, he wrote 15 novels, 5 novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles. He even performed for Queen Victoria in 1851. Such was the charisma of the author that the term ‘Dickensian’ is still used to describe situations reminiscent of his narratives. Literary stalwarts like Leo Tolstoy, George Orwell and G.K. Chesterton admired him for his comedy, prose style and realism. The quintessential Victorian author died in 1870, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.