Author: Charles Dickens
Publisher: Rupa
Year: 1999
Language: English
Pages: 416
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8171674070
Description
First published in 1859, in Dicken's mature period of writing, this classic remains one of the greatest novels on the French Revolution. The two cities are Paris and London and the scene shifts from one to the other.
First published in 1859, in Dickens's mature period of writing, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ remains one of the greatest novels on the French Revolution. The two cities are Paris and London and the scene shifts from one to the other in a story of brutality, repression, hatred, and revenge on the one hand and idealism, love, and self-sacrifice on the other.
The Marquis de St Evremonde and his brother cruelly molest a peasant girl and mortally wound her brother Dr. Manette, who is called to treat them but is then confined in the Bastille for eighteen years to suppress his evidence. The fall of the dreaded prison secures his release, but he is ill and driven crazy. He is brought to England to convalesce, and slowly recovers his sanity. Darnay, a nephew of the Marquis, who has renounced his family for their cruel practices, is now in England and falls in love with and marries Lucie, the doctor’s daughter.
He makes a trip to Paris to rescue an old family retainer, but is recognized, arrested, and sentences to death. He is only saved by an act of reckless self-sacrifice by Sydney Carton, an English barrister come to no good, who loves Lucie, and substitutes himself in the place of Darnay who is smuggled out of the country. Carton dies a courageous and peaceful death.
Contents
Charles Dickens
Introduction
Authors Preface
BOOK ONE
RECALLED TO LIFE
CHAPTER 1
The Period
CHAPTER 2
The Mail
CHAPTER 3
The Night Shadows
CHAPTER 4
The Preparation
CHAPTER 5
The Wine-shop
CHAPTER 6
The Shoemaker
BOOK TWO
THE GOLDEN THREAD
CHAPTER 1
Five Years Later
CHAPTER 2
A Sight
CHAPTER 3
A Disappointment
CHAPTER 4
Congratulatory
CHAPTER 5
The Jackal
CHAPTER 6
Hundreds of People
CHAPTER 7
Monseigneur in Town
CHAPTER 8
Monseigneur in the Country
CHAPTER 9
The Gorgon’s Head
CHAPTER 10
Two Promises
CHAPTER 11
A Companion Picture
CHAPTER 12
The Fellow of Delicacy
CHAPTER 13
The Fellow of No Delicacy
CHAPTER 14
The Honest Tradesman
CHAPTER 15
Knitting
CHAPTER 16
Still Knitting
CHAPTER 17
One Night
CHAPTER 18
Nine Days
CHAPTER 19
An Opinion
CHAPTER 20
A Plea
CHAPTER 21
Echoing Footsteps
CHAPTER 22
The Sea Still Rises
CHAPTER 23
Fire Rises
CHAPTER 24
Drawn to the Loadstone Rock
BOOK THREE
THE TRACK OF A STORM
CHAPTER 1
In Secret
CHAPTER 2
The Grindstone
CHAPTER 3
The Shadow
CHAPTER 4
Calm in Storm
CHAPTER 5
The Wood-Sawyer
CHAPTER 6
Triumph
CHAPTER 7
A Knock at the Door
CHAPTER 8
A Hand at Cards
CHAPTER 9
The Game Made
CHAPTER 10
The Substance of the Shadow
CHAPTER 11
Dusk
CHAPTER 12
Darkness
CHAPTER 13
Fifty-two
CHAPTER 14
The Knitting Done
CHAPTER 15
The Footsteps Die Out for Ever
Bibliography