Physical description

A Tale of Two Cities.
Author: Charles Dickens. (Introduction by Sydney Dark)
Publisher: Collins, (London & Glasgow)
Date: Mid 20th Century. (See note section this document for more information on Edition).

Publication type

fiction

Inscriptions & markings

The label on the spine with typed text PAT 823.8 DIC
Paste down front end paper has a sticker from Warrnambool Public Library covered by a sticker from Corangamite Regional Library Service
Front loose end paper has a stamp from Corangamite Regional Library Service

Summary

Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was one of the great English novelists of the Victorian era, famous for vivid characters, social criticism, and stories that were first published in serial form. He began as a journalist, rose to enormous popularity during his lifetime, and wrote major works such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations.
A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens’s sweeping historical novel set against the French Revolution, focusing on London and Paris and the collision of private lives with mass upheaval. It is especially famous for its stark contrasts between order and chaos, and for one of the most moving acts of self sacrifice in Victorian fiction. The plot centres on Dr. Manette, imprisoned for eighteen years in the Bastille, his daughter Lucie, and the English lawyer Sydney Carton, whose life becomes entangled with that of the French aristocrat Charles Darnay. Set on the eve of and during the Revolution, the novel shows how old injustices fuel mob violence and terror, culminating in Carton’s substitution of himself for at the guillotine, in a Christ‑like gesture of redemption.