A Tale of Two Cities

This Top Five Classics edition of Dickens's immortal A Tale of Two Cities includes the original unabridged text, more than 40 illustrations from the 1859 first edition by "Phiz" and from the 1872 edition by Frederick Barnard. In addition, it features a short author bio and an Introduction by Dickens scholar and novelist Andrei Baltakmens (author of The Raven's Seal).


A Tale of Two Cities opens in 1775, when Doctor Manette is reunited with his daughter Lucie after having been locked away in the Bastille for 18 years. Lucie nurtures her half-mad father back to health, but their troubles are far from over, as their lives become entangled with the emigrant son of the Marquis St. Evrémonde, the wayward ne'er-do-well Sydney Carton, and the vengeful Madame and Monsieur Defarge. Set against the terror and turmoil of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities is one of Charles Dickens's most loved works—a historical adventure of high drama and surprising depth.