A Tale of Two Cities
Edition: 2000 Penguin Classics edition (1)
Series: Penguin Classics
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 2000
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 481
ISBN-13: 9780140437300
Copyright date: 2000
Description: After finishing A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens said 'it has greatly moved and excited me in the doing'. One of his most haunting novels, it has since its first serial publication in 1859, continued to exert a grip on the popular imagination.

Set mainly during the French Revolution in a lethal, vengeful Paris and a leafy, tranquil London, the two cities of the title ar only one of the novel's stark dichotomies, which are continued as Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay are drawn towards their separate destinies - their lives touched by the same woman.

In his absorbing introduction, Richard Maxwell discusses the novel's intricate design, in which Dickens magnificently interweaves epic drama with personal tragedy. Comparing it to Carlyle's French Revolution and Hugo's Les Miserables, Maxwell argues that A Tale of Two Cities 'stands as Dickens's most memorable effort to see a world in a very small space; a work short by its nature...yet curiously at its ease among giants.'
(back cover)