Riassunto:
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is the second historical novel
by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during
the French Revolution. It depicts the plight of the French
proletariat under the brutal oppression of the French
aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and the
corresponding savage brutality demonstrated by the
revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early
years of the revolution. It follows the lives of several
protagonists through these events, most notably Charles Darnay,
a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate
wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney
Carton, a dissipated English barrister who endeavours to redeem
his ill-spent life out of love for Darnay's wife, Lucie
Manette.