Product Description

The "two cities" are Paris in the time of the French Revolution, and London. 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. The doctor has just been released, demented, when the story opens. He is brought to England where he gradually recovers his health and his sanity. Charles Darnay, concealing under that false name his identity as the nephew of the cruel Marquis, has left France and renounced his heritage. He falls in love with Lucie, Dr. Manette's daughter, and they are happily married. During the Terror, he goes to Paris to save a servant condemned by the mob. Darnay himself is arrested, condemned to death, and is saved at the last moment by Sydney Carton, a reckless wastrel who acts out of devotion to Lucie. Carton smuggles Darnay out of prison and takes his place on the scaffold, declaring "It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before," surely one of the most quoted lines in all the history of literature.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1334166 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-10
• Released on: 2004-06-10
• Formats: Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .64" h x 5.22" w x 7.48" l, .21 pounds
• Binding: MP3 CD

From AudioFile
Dickens specialized in large casts of characters, and Tom Baker artfully differentiates major and minor characters, men and women, young and old, French and English in this story of the French Revolution. With intonation Baker creates the sound of galloping horses, the terror of those soon to be guillotined, the joy of the crowd. Certainly, this is deservedly labeled a "Classic Bestseller." M.G.S. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Review
“[A Tale of Two Cities] has the best of Dickens and the worst of Dickens: a dark, driven opening, and a celestial but melodramatic ending; a terrifyingly demonic villainess and (even by Dickens’ standards) an impossibly angelic heroine. Though its version of the French Revolution is brutally simplified, its engagement with the immense moral themes of rebirth and terror, justice, and sacrifice gets right to the heart of the matter . . . For every reader in the past hundred and forty years and for hundreds to come, it is an unforgettable ride.”–from the Introduction by Simon Schama

Ingram
Must one honorable man pay for the sins of his cruel, aristocratic family? Can an old man brutally wronged by that family find forgiveness before it's too late? And will history--the sweeping violence of the French Revolution--force father to betray child in his search for vengeance? A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens's immortal story of love and ultimate sacrifice.