A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (Penguin Classics)

Description

“A Tale of Two Cities” is a historical novel written by Charles Dickens, first published in 1859. The story is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel is famous for its opening line, which is one of the most well-known in English literature: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

The novel follows the lives of several characters, including Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated English lawyer. The plot involves the complex and intertwining stories of love, sacrifice, and resurrection. The narrative explores themes of social injustice, the brutality of the French Revolution, and the possibility of personal redemption.

The title, “A Tale of Two Cities,” refers to the contrasting destinies of London and Paris during this tumultuous period in history. The novel is considered one of Dickens’s masterpieces and is celebrated for its vivid characters and its exploration of the human condition in times of political and social upheaval.