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A Tale of Two Cities [Tantor]

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A Tale of Two Cities [Tantor]

Written by: Charles Dickens
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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About this listen

This novel provides a highly charged examination of human suffering and human sacrifice, private experience and public history, during the French Revolution.

A Tale of Two Cities is one of Charles Dickens's most exciting novels. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, it tells the story of a family threatened by the terrible events of the past. Doctor Manette was wrongly imprisoned in the Bastille for 18 years without trial by the aristocratic authorities. Finally released, he is reunited with his daughter, Lucie, who despite her French ancestry has been brought up in London. Lucie falls in love with Charles Darnay, another expatriate, who has abandoned wealth and a title in France because of his political convictions. When revolution breaks out in Paris, Darnay returns to the city to help an old family servant, but there he is arrested because of the crimes committed by his relations. His wife, Lucie, their young daughter, and her aged father follow him across the channel, thus putting all their lives in danger.

Public Domain (P)2008 Tantor Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction French Revolution

What the critics say

Charles Dickens's classic of the French Revolution is expertly dramatized by Simon Vance. It's also a grand romance. Charles Darnay, the French émigré who relinquishes his title in disgust at the poverty wrought upon the peasants by the titled class, and Sydney Carton, the world-weary drunken London barrister, both love Lucie, the daughter of the unjustly imprisoned Dr. Alexandre Manette. Vance will have listeners weeping as Carton greets Madame Guillotine with some of the most famous lines in literature. Carton's depression and ultimate redemption are crystal clear; Madame Defarge, with her clicking knitting needles, takes on appropriate menace; and Jarvis Lorry, the reliable "man of business," loves Lucie as if she were his daughter." (AudioFile magazine)

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Dickens takes a little bit to understand if you have been listening to modern type of novels. Great to hear the English language spoken so eloquently. Great story.

A classic finally listened to.

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This is just my opinion, as I am only a high school senior without the ability to understand the complexities of Dickens's writing at this time in my life. My teacher does say that A Tale of Two Cities is one of his most difficult reads so that may be it as well. If you have no issue with this type of literature then your listening should run smoothly because the narrator does a very nice job. That said, this book did begin to put me to sleep (in fairness, I was awake for hours on end not sleeping until 2 am)!!

Confusing

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A classic story which is well read and the narrator gives it true emotion. After all these years, it is still without equal.

A classic story without equal.

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