It Was the Best of Times it Was the Worst of Times

A Tale of Two Cities is the second historical novel written by Charles Dickens. The plot centers on the years leading up to the French Revolution and culminates in the Jacobin Reign of Terror. The story touches upon Alexandre Manette's 1757 imprisonment, but the actual timeline begins in 1775. The first issue of Dickens's literary periodical All the Year Round appearing April 30, 1859, contained the first of thirty-one weekly installments of the novel, which ran until November 26, 1859.

The book primarily tells the story of Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, who look identical, but are complete opposites. Darnay is a romantic aristocrat; Carton is a cynical barrister. Both fall deeply in love with the same woman, Lucie Manette whose father, Manette, was unjustly imprisoned in the infamous Bastille for eighteen years under a lettre de cachet. Madame Defarge, a revolutionary with an implacable grudge against the aristocratic Evrémonde family is also featured.

The title reflects the way in which the setting alternates between England and France. Two of the 45 chapters are set in both countries, nineteen in England and 24 in France. They tell of the corruption, abuse and inhumanity of the French nobles towards the peasantry. The masses, oppressed for centuries, rise up at last and destroy their masters – but in the process, they themselves become just as evil and corrupt.

See the lot synopsis here.