A TALE OF TWO CITIES (1859) is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in
London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel
depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French
aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding
brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former
aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering
social parallels with life in London during the same period. It follows
the lives of several characters through these events. A Tale of Two
Cities was published in weekly installments from April 1859 to November
1859 in Dickens's new literary periodical titled All the Year Round. All
but three of Dickens's previous novels had appeared only as monthly
installments. With sales of about 200 million copies, A Tale of Two
Cities is the bestselling novel in history.
"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."
