A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities is a story of love and sacrifice set in London and Paris in the years of the French Revolution, read slowly by Elizabeth Grace for sleep.

The tale opens with an old man, Dr. Manette, set free after eighteen long years locked away in a Paris prison. His kind daughter Lucie helps bring him back to life in London. In time, two very different men come to love her: Charles Darnay, a good-hearted Frenchman who has turned his back on his cruel noble family, and Sydney Carton, a clever but wasted English lawyer who believes his own life amounts to nothing.

Across the sea, France is boiling over. The poor have suffered under the rich for far too long, and revolution breaks out with terrible force. As the guillotine falls and old scores are settled, Darnay is pulled back to Paris and into deadly danger. To save the woman they both love, Sydney Carton makes a quiet choice that will change everything, and lead to one of the most famous endings in all of literature.

This is sweeping historical fiction, full of dark prisons, angry crowds, secret pasts, and a doomed, redeeming love. It's perfect for fans of Dickens, of big-hearted classics, or anyone who loves a story that builds to a stirring act of sacrifice.

Elizabeth Grace's warm, level voice carries you through London and Paris without ever quickening. The troubles of both cities stay soft and far away, easy to fade out on well before the end.