A Tale of Two Cities [Tantor]

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

This novel provides a highly charged examination of human suffering and human sacrifice, private experience and public history, during the French Revolution.

A Tale of Two Cities is one of Charles Dickens's most exciting novels. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, it tells the story of a family threatened by the terrible events of the past. Doctor Manette was wrongly imprisoned in the Bastille for 18 years without trial by the aristocratic authorities. Finally released, he is reunited with his daughter, Lucie, who despite her French ancestry has been brought up in London. Lucie falls in love with Charles Darnay, another expatriate, who has abandoned wealth and a title in France because of his political convictions. When revolution breaks out in Paris, Darnay returns to the city to help an old family servant, but there he is arrested because of the crimes committed by his relations. His wife, Lucie, their young daughter, and her aged father follow him across the channel, thus putting all their lives in danger.

Public Domain (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

Charles Dickens's classic of the French Revolution is expertly dramatized by Simon Vance. It's also a grand romance. Charles Darnay, the French émigré who relinquishes his title in disgust at the poverty wrought upon the peasants by the titled class, and Sydney Carton, the world-weary drunken London barrister, both love Lucie, the daughter of the unjustly imprisoned Dr. Alexandre Manette. Vance will have listeners weeping as Carton greets Madame Guillotine with some of the most famous lines in literature. Carton's depression and ultimate redemption are crystal clear; Madame Defarge, with her clicking knitting needles, takes on appropriate menace; and Jarvis Lorry, the reliable "man of business," loves Lucie as if she were his daughter." (AudioFile magazine)

Best audiobook I've heard

Anything by Charles Dickens is going to be good story wise, but this vocal performance was unexpectedly good! I'll probably buy my next few audiobooks by searching for the performer Simon Vance.

Excellent Rendition of Dickens' Classic Novel

Simon Vance did an excellent job presenting Dickens' Classic Novel of the French Revolution. I read this in Highschool but couldn't remember what happened. I really enjoyed hearing A Tale of Two Cities for the first time. I wish there were an author of Dickens caliber today who could write such engrossing prose about social justice.

A classic in perfect presentation

This is one of the great classics that I never experienced in my education or youth, but I'm thrilled to have finally heard the story. The audio presentation brought the characters to life, and I only regret that I've waited so long to hear it. History, eloquence, tragedy, redemption.

Deeply moving

Well read and engaging. Strong and unexpected character development. The story comes alive with each character voice distinct so that I think it was easier to listen than to read it myself.

Brilliant

A true classic. The reader's performance causes the listener to become immersed into the darkest days of French history.

Interesting

I had previously listened to Great Expectations and enjoyed it to some degree, but thought it had a weak ending. This however. I felt it had a very slow build, but the last two hours were riveting!

Phenomenal story and performance

An altogether tragic and heroic story! Wonderful performance, engaging and entertaining! Dickens at his best!

Pure Dickensian!

Waited too long to listen to this. His stories of the time echo terrifying parallels of today. His stories really are brilliant and eternal. As in the words of Eccleston's Doctor Who "They last... forever."

Classic but...

While the story wasn’t terrible, I wasn’t drawn in much of the time. I mostly kept listening to say I had.

Get this book

I have just embarked on a journey to read and listen to many of the classic books that we have always heard of but never read. This book was exquisitely written, and perfectly read in this telling. This is a great tale of 18th century England and France, that deals primarily with the atrocities of the French Revolution. There are many parallels for today, please take note.