118 pages • 3 hours read
Charles DickensA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, is set in London and Paris before the French Revolution and follows banker Jarvis Lorry and Lucie Manette as they rescue her imprisoned father, Dr. Manette, and bring him to England. Years later, Lucie's fiancé Charles Darnay returns to France to help an innocent man and is arrested. The melancholic lawyer Sydney Carton, who loves Lucie, devises a daring plan to save Darnay from execution. The novel contains themes of imprisonment, revolution, and sacrifice.
Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities is praised for its vivid portrayal of the French Revolution and profound character development, especially of Sydney Carton. However, some readers find the plot slow and convoluted. Its timeless themes of sacrifice and redemption resonate strongly, despite occasional criticism of its melodramatic moments.
A reader who enjoys historical dramas with rich character development and social commentary would appreciate A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Fans of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo or War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, drawn to the exploration of societal upheaval and personal redemption, would find this novel compelling.
Recommended
Lexile Level
710LBritish Literature
Historical Fiction
Classic Fiction
Relationships: Family
Values/Ideas: Fate
Victorian Period