Tale of Two Cities

by Dickens, C.

• ISBN13: 9781853260391
• ISBN10: 1853260398
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-08-01
• Publisher: Wordsworth

Summary

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Author Biography

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) As a best-selling novelist, Charles Dickens was a celebrity of Victorian England. Worldly success was important to him because of his impoverished childhood: his family lived in a debtor's prison, and Charles was forced to work in a factory and educate himself. In his late teens he worked as a law clerk, a reporter, and then a journalist, writing colorful sketches of London life under the pen name "Boz." His first book, The Pickwick Papers, was a best-seller. From then on, Dickens worked fanatically, turning out thick novels, editing magazines, and giving public readings, which won him a reputation as a liberal reformer. A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens' second historical novel, appeared as a magazine serial in 1859. Dickens followed it with two of his greatest works, Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend. But he was soon overcome by depression, failing health, and compulsive overwork. One morning at his country house in Kent, he died of a heart attack--while seated at his writing desk.

Table of Contents

Preface to the First Edition
Recalled to Life
The Period	p. 11
The Mail	p. 13
The Night Shadows	p. 16
The Preparation	p. 19
The Wine-Shop	p. 27
The Shoemaker	p. 34
The Golden Thread
Five Years Later	p. 45
A Sight	p. 49
A Disappointment	p. 53
Congratulatory	p. 62
The Jackal	p. 66
Hundreds of People	p. 70
Monseigneur in Town	p. 78
Moneigneur in the Country	p. 84
The Gorgon's Head	p. 88
Two Promises	p. 95
A Companion Picture	p. 100
The Fellow of Delicacy	p. 103
The Fellow of No Delicacy	p. 107
The Honest Tradesman	p. 111
Knitting	p. 118
Still Knitting	p. 125
One Night	p. 132
Nine Days	p. 136
An Opinion	p. 140
A Plea	p. 145
Echoing Footsteps	p. 147
The Sea Still Rises	p. 155
Fire Rises	p. 158
Drawn to the Loadstone Rock	p. 163
The Track of a Storm	p. 175
In Secret	p. 175
The Grindstone	p. 183
The Shadow	p. 187
Calm in Storm	p. 190
The Wood-Sawyer	p. 194
Triumph	p. 198
A Knock at the Door	p. 202
A Hand at Cards	p. 206
The Game Made	p. 214
The Substance of the Shadow	p. 222
Dusk	p. 232
Darkness	p. 234
Fifty-two	p. 240
The Knitting Done	p. 247
The Footsteps Die Out For Ever	p. 255
Essays
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