A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens · first published 1800
19% recommend76% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Historical novel of the French Revolution with memorable prose, a moving Sydney Carton arc, and a tense escape from Paris. Pays off for patient readers, and works well for reading aloud or rereading as an adult.
Common criticism: Slow opening and a padded middle; some find the language flowery
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. In the Introduction to the Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction, critic Don D'Ammassa argues that it is an adventure novel because the protagonists are in constan
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I don't see why movies should be any less "classic" than books. A Tale of Two Cities was published in 1859 and is still a classic - why not Casablanca many years after its creation?
on “Cinema’s greatest scene: ‘Casablanca’ and ‘La Marseillaise’” ↗A Tale of Two Cities, fiction by Charles Dickens
on “Ask HN: Which is your favorite book on the French Revolution?” ↗Obviously everyone is different, but (aside from Shakespeare) the two books I read in HS that I most liked were Cather in the Rye and A Tale of Two Cities. I should note that after liking A Tale of Two Cities so much, I tried David Copperfield and Oliver Twist and found neither to my liking. I had my great expectations of Dickens' other work rather crushed…
on “H.L. Mencken Reviews the Great Gatsby (1925)” ↗A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I didn't read it on my own personally, rather, it was read in my eighth grade class from beginning to end. Lots of discussion was had about the foreshadowing and meaning behind Dickens'…
on “Ask HN: What book had a big impact on you as a child or teenager?” ↗If you can stomach older English novels: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
on “The Age of Reading Is Over” ↗…didn’t particularly enjoy for the first hundred pages or more. I stuck with them mostly because I deliberately give books time to develop before deciding whether they’re for me. My favorite example is A Tale of Two Cities. I didn’t enjoy it all that much until Book Three, Chapter 12. From there, it was smooth sailing. It’s now one of my favorite stories I’ve ever read, and I still think about it often, especially that…
on “Every novel is boring until it isn't” ↗Yeah, all those damn authors who wasted their lives writing supposedly great works of fiction like Ulysses and The Grapes of Wrath and A Tale of Two Cities. They should have been digging ditches in Africa or volunteering at their local soup kitchen or whatever. Give me a break. You think the world is really better served by you giving up on your dreams?…
on “Ask HN: The best way to put technical skills to the greater good?” ↗This was highly illegal and frowned upon in polite society, but doctors needed the body parts to study anatomy and paid for them. By chance I've recently read Dicken's "A Tale of Two Cities", which uses the banker's messenger secretly moonlighting as such a resurrectionist digging up bodies at night, as a plot device. Quite a fun read.
on “Jobs that no longer exist” ↗…nothing! It really seemed like a canned Madison Avenue product designed to appeal to teenagers. Come to think if it, the only things I remembered enjoying in my forced high school reading was Macbeth and Tale of Two Cities. One thing I did really like from that era which I suspect wouldn't age well if I tried it now for the first time was Dune.
on “Did Salinger Go Awry?” ↗My personal favorite is A Tale of Two Cities, but I haven't read enough Dickens yet to be sure what I have missed. But while I heartily agree that reading classic literature is very worthwhile, I also think that reading a nonfiction book like SICP…
on “Programming books I have read and somewhat liked” ↗I'd say literature come to mind the most. A Tale of Two Cities, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, Beowulf, Pride and Prejudice were the first ones that come to mind, though there are of course many more. Wish I knew more of the non-western classics
on “Ask HN: Single-person creations that have stood the test of time?” ↗…get the sense that it’s ok to kill the people in his home at the end because he is mighty Odysseus but I think that’s pretty lame. I could go on but it’s been too long to cite examples from memory. A tale of two cities was another one I enjoyed a lot as a teen. The sloppy romanticism of the dude who devotes his life to a love he will never have seemed really quaint, but now seems just pathetic. I’m actually really annoyed…
on “Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective” ↗…aristocratic floridness brings to mind a scene with my favorite phrase from another work that was paid-per-word: "The leprosy of unreality disfigured every human creature in attendance upon Monseigneur." - A Tale of Two Cities
on “Good riddance to long books” ↗Been a year of re-reads and some classics I never started b/c of thickness. Standouts for me were “A Tale of Two Cities” and “Norwegian Wood.” “Kafka on The Shore”, “Norwegian Wood” - Haruki Murakami “A Tale of Two Cities” - Dickens “Count of Monte Cristo” - Alexandre Dumas LotR, “Hobbit” - Tolkien “World Atlas of…
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗I loved a Tale of Two Cities. Amazing writing. Just amazing. The scene where they're escaping from Paris is just incredible.
on “Programming books I have read and somewhat liked” ↗