A Tale of Two Cities
Eighteen years in the Bastille have left Doctor Manette making shoes in a garret, unable to recognise the daughter who comes for him. Getting him out is the easy part. The Revolution he was jailed before has not happened yet, and when it arrives it reaches the people who assumed a Channel crossing had settled matters.
Dickens worked with Carlyle’s history open beside him and it shows. The mobs frighten in a way his comic crowds never do, and Madame Defarge knits her list of the condemned without a trace of the sentiment he usually could not resist. The ending rests entirely on a drunk, wasted barrister, and whether he carries it is an argument that started in 1859 and has not stopped.
About the Author
Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812–1870) was an English novelist and social critic, widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His literary genius is evident in his creation of some of the world’s most iconic fictional characters. Born in Portsmouth, Dickens faced adversity…
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Listen to A Tale of Two Cities Audiobook Free
Listen to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens free online. The full audiobook (14 hr 60 min, 45 chapters, read by volunteer narrators) streams free on this page.
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I.I: The Period | 6:49 | |
| 2 | I.II: The Mail | 14:53 | |
| 3 | I.III: The Night Shadows | 12:07 | |
| 4 | I.IV: The Preparation | 29:57 | |
| 5 | I.V: The Wineshop | 26:23 | |
| 6 | I.VI: The Shoemaker | 23:42 | |
| 7 | II.I: Five Years Later | 14:19 | |
| 8 | II.II: A Sight | 17:55 | |
| 9 | II.III: A Disappointment | 36:14 | |
| 10 | II.IV: Congratulatory | 17:33 | |
| 11 | II.V: The Jackal | 14:30 | |
| 12 | II.VI: Hundreds of People | 26:20 | |
| 13 | II.VII: Monseigneur in Town | 22:40 | |
| 14 | II.VIII: Monseigneur in the Country | 13:37 | |
| 15 | II.IX: The Gorgon's Head | 27:44 | |
| 16 | II.X: Two Promises | 21:07 | |
| 17 | II.XI: A Companion Picture | 7:53 | |
| 18 | II.XII: The Fellow of Delicacy | 14:46 | |
| 19 | II.XIII: The Fellow of no Delicacy | 18:18 | |
| 20 | II.XIV: The Honest Tradesman | 24:56 | |
| 21 | II.XV: Knitting | 26:16 | |
| 22 | II.XVI: Still Knitting | 30:34 | |
| 23 | II.XVII: One Night | 11:53 | |
| 24 | II.XVIII: Nine Days | 16:57 | |
| 25 | II.XIX: An Opinion | 21:09 | |
| 26 | II.XX: A Plea | 7:25 | |
| 27 | II.XXI: Echoing Footsteps | 26:18 | |
| 28 | II.XXII: The Sea Still Rises | 13:01 | |
| 29 | II.XXIII: Fire Rises | 19:51 | |
| 30 | II.XXIV: Drawn to the Loadstone Rock | 30:00 | |
| 31 | III.I: In Secret | 26:31 | |
| 32 | III.II: The Grindstone | 14:44 | |
| 33 | III.III: The Shadow | 12:44 | |
| 34 | III.IV: Calm in Storm | 15:02 | |
| 35 | III.V: The Woodsawyer | 16:43 | |
| 36 | III.VI: Triumph | 17:29 | |
| 37 | III.VII: A Knock at the Door | 11:45 | |
| 38 | III.VIII: A Hand at Cards | 30:26 | |
| 39 | III.IX: The Game Made | 27:45 | |
| 40 | III.X: The Substance of the Shadow | 35:49 | |
| 41 | III.XI: Dusk | 9:15 | |
| 42 | III.XII: Darkness | 19:30 | |
| 43 | III.XIII: Fiftytwo | 23:52 | |
| 44 | III.XIV: The Knitting Done | 28:16 | |
| 45 | III.XV: The Footsteps Die Out For Ever | 14:37 |
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