30 Apr 2022
On This Day
30 April 2022 Cheryl

30 April 1859: A Tale of Two Cities is published

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens opens his novel, The Tale of Two Cities, with a sentence that has become famous: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” A passage that suggests radical opposites taking place and is used very often to this day. [1]

Commencing on 30 April 1859, A Tale of Two Cities written by Charles Dickens, was first published in 31 weekly instalments in Dickens’ own magazine, All the Year Round. Each instalment contained several chapters, and readers eagerly awaited the next issue to continue the story. It was published in book form later the same year.

Full of love and brutality, A Tale of Two Cities is an historical novel set against the backdrop of the French Revolution. Divided into three books, it tells the story of French Doctor, Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, followed by his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie, whom he had never met and believed him to be dead. Dickens’ vivid descriptions of the period, along with his well-drawn characters and intricate plot, made it a memorable and enduring work.

From its inception, the novel received mixed critical reviews but succeeded in capturing the imagination of readers through its swift, exciting story and memorable depiction of the French Revolution. The story compresses this complex event to the scale of a family history with a cast of believably flawed characters exposing the highs and lows of humanity.

As Dickens’ best-known work of historical fiction, this book is said to be one of the best-selling novels of all time. The most famous, and perhaps the least typical of the author’s novels, it has been adapted for film, television, radio, and the stage, and has continued to influence popular culture.