A Tale of Two Cities

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The two cities are London and Paris. The background is the French Revolution, descriptions of which Dickens obtained from his friend Thomas Carlyle. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens has sold more copies than any other individual book in history. Almost twice as many as the first Harry Potter book. Over two hundred million copies and counting. 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 time period. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events.