A Tale of Two Cities

Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a Dickens novel set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The story 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’ most loved works—a historical adventure of high drama and surprising depth.