A Tale of Two Cities (Illustrated)

Charles Dickens

Oct 2012 · Top Five Classics Book 7 · Top Five Books LLC

About this ebook

This Top Five Classics edition of A Tale of Two Cities includes:

• More than 40 illustrations by “Phiz” (Hablot K. Browne) from the original 1859 edition and Frederick Barnard from the 1872 edition
• Author bio and bibliography
• Introduction by Dickens scholar and novelist Andrei Baltakmens

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.

Ratings and reviews

It swept me off my feet in a way I didn't expect. Ever.

Love having my favorite author at a convenience

classic in the truest sense

About the author

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.