A TALE OF TWO CITIES

by Charles Dickens

Overview

A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is the second historical novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It depicts the plight of the French proletariat under the brutal oppression of the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and the corresponding savage brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events, most notably Charles Darnay, a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated English barrister who endeavours to redeem his ill-spent life out of love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940162197058
Publisher:	Steinbeck Publishers
Publication date:	05/22/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

1812 Born on Friday, 7 February at Landport, a suburb of Portsmouth to John, a clerk in the navy pay-office attached to the dockyard, and Elizabeth Dickens.
1814 Father transferred to London with family.
1816 Father transferred to Chatham with family.
First gets some schooling, although already an avid reader.
1821 Reforms in the Admiralty lose his father his post and most of his incorne. Family moves to a house in Camden Town, London.
1824 Father arrested for debt February 2 and consigned to the Marshalsea, where family joins him. Separated from family and put to work at Warren's Blacking Factory at Hungerford Market, CD walks four miles to and from lodgings in Camden Town; visits his father on Sundays at prison. Eventually family finds him lodging in Lant Street close to them. After father's release on May 28, family returns to Camden Town. Attends day school in Hampstead Road, London.
1827 Taken from school; becomes office boy of an attorney; decides to become a journalist.
1829 Free-lance reporter at Doctor's Commons Courts.
1830 Meets and falls in love with Maria Beadnell.
1831 Acts as parliamentary reporter during Reform Bill agitation.
1833 His love affair with Maria Beadnell ends. His first published story, "Dinner at Poplar Walk," appears in Monthly Magazine.
1834 Working as newspaper reporter, adopts the pseudonym "Boz." Father once again arrested for debt; Charles comes to his aid.
1835 Becomes engaged to Catherine Hogarth, daughter of his friend George Hogarth, an editor.
1836 • His first series of Sketches by Boz published; receives 150 pounds for the copyright.
• First number of Pickwick Papers appears on 30 March.
• Marries Catherine Hogarth on 2 April.
• Becomes editor of Bentley's Miscellany. Publishes in December the second series of Sketches by Boz.
• Meets John Forster, who will become a close friend and his first biographer.
1837 • Begins Oliver Twist, continues in monthly parts in Bentley's Miscellany.
• Catherine's younger sister Mary, whom he idolizes, dies.
• Catherine bears a son Charles, the first of seven sons and three daughters.
• Pickwick Papers finishes.
1838 Begins Nicholas Nickleby
1839 Resigns as editor of Bentley's Miscellany. Last part of Oliver Twist appears in April. Nicholas Nickleby finishes in October.

Date of Birth:

February 7, 1812

Date of Death:

June 18, 1870

Place of Birth:

Portsmouth, England

Place of Death:

Gad's Hill, Kent, England

Education:

Home-schooling; attended Dame School at Chatham briefly and Wellington