Summary
"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."
From the author of David Copperfield and A Christmas Carol comes a novel which is among the most celebrated works in the history of literary fiction.
Dickens' two cities are London and Paris during the time of the French Revolution. Dr. Manette, a French physician, having been called in to treat a young peasant and his sister, realizes that they have been cruelly abused by the Marquis de St. Evremonde and his brother. To ensure Dr. Manette's silence, the Marquis has him confined for eighteen years in the Bastille. As the story opens, the doctor has just been released. He is brought to England where he gradually recovers his health and his sanity.
Charles Darnay, concealing his identity as the cruel Marquis' nephew, has left France and renounced his heritage. He falls in love with Lucie, Dr. Manette's daughter, and they are happily married. When he is called to Paris to save a servant condemned by the mob, Darnay himself is imprisoned, setting off a chain of events which will entwine the lives of Darnay and the degenerate barrister Sydney Carton in ways that reveal the profound effects of revenge, love, and redemption.
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Charles Dickens, perhaps the best British novelist of the Victorian era, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England on February 7, 1812. His happy early childhood was interrupted when his father was sent to debtors' prison, and young Dickens had to go to work in a factory at age twelve. Later, he took jobs as an office boy and journalist before publishing essays and stories in the 1830s.
His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, made him a famous and popular author at the age of twenty-five. Subsequent works were published serially in periodicals and cemented his reputation as a master of colorful characterization, and as a harsh critic of social evils and corrupt institutions. His many books include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Little Dorrit, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities.
Dickens married Catherine Hogarth in 1836, and the couple had nine children before separating in 1858 when he began a long affair with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. Despite the scandal, Dickens remained a public figure, appearing often to read his fiction. He died in 1870, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished.
(Bowker Author Biography)