From the echo of the first line 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times' to the final 'It is a far far better thing that I do than I have ever done', Dickens' classic novel of the French revolution tells a story of the redemptive powers of love in the face of cruelty, violence and neglect.
Set in London and Paris, it shows the plight of the French people under the brutal oppression of the aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and the corresponding savage brutality of the revolutionaries towards the former aristocrats in the years immediately following. Among the memorable characters are Charles Darnay, a French former aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated English barrister who tries to redeem his ill-spent life out of love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette. In this moving, intricate tale spanning eight tumultuous years, Dickens orchestrates the wider political picture behind the story of Lucie, Darnay and Carton with his customary brilliance.
This epic production, dramatised by Mike Walker, stars Robert Lindsay as Dickens, with Alison Steadman, Jonathan Coy, Andrew Scott, Paul Ready, and Karl Johnson.
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"As far as I'm concerned, this book has everything one could potentially want in a novel, it has romance, revenge, redemption, revolt, and revolution. It doesn't get any better than that! Oftentimes novels that are about or take place during big historical events can get caught up in the scope and scale of the time and neglect the character element. This is not so in A Tale of Two Cities. In fact the time period itself becomes a character in the story. Dickens does an amazing job of making all the characters seem "real" even though some are exaggerated versions of real people. He also has an uncanny ability to make you understand the characters psychological states and the way of thinking that lead to the brutal and bloody revolution in the first place. If nothing else by reading this book you will learn a thing or two about the French Revolution, I certainly did. (Read in summer of 2011)."
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Kate (5 out of 5 stars)