A Tale Of Two Cities, Four Month Read Along. (Title edited by MNHQ at request of OP)

[DesdamonasHandkerchief]

Welcome to a 6 month read along of Dicken’s 12th novel A Tale of Two Cities
We will be reading it using the following format, and discussing the chapters on the first day of the following month: (So January chapters discussed from 1st Feb onwards etc)

A Tale of Two Cities

6-Month Read-Along Calendar

Start: 1 January 2026
Finish: 30 June 2026

🗓️
JANUARY 2026

Book the First: Recalled to Life
(Chapters 1–7)

✔ Book the First complete

🗓️
FEBRUARY 2026

Book the Second: The Golden Thread
(Chapters 1–6)

🗓️
MARCH 2026

Book the Second: The Golden Thread
(Chapters 7–12)

✔ Midway through Book the Second

🗓️
APRIL 2026

Book the Second: The Golden Thread
(Chapters 13–18)

🗓️
MAY 2026

Book the Second: The Golden Thread
(Chapters 19–24)

✔ Book the Second complete

🗓️
JUNE 2026

Book the Third: The Track of a Storm
(Chapters 1–15)

✔ Novel complete

I know very little about this book other than its set in revolutionary Paris and London, let’s hope it’s a goodie!

I’ve enjoyed this so far, used to reading bigger chunks of Dickens for readalongs so happy to compress!

I was late getting started with the read, so just finished the section and these comments. Thanks for sharing. I’ve not done a read along before. I’m happy to compress if that’s what everyone else wants.

Thank you @DesdamonasHandkerchieffor all the background and commentary. Very much enjoying the book. Like others, I thought the stagecoach chapter was very atmospheric.

I was quite surprised that Lucie's father had learnt a skill (shoemaking) in prison as I assumed that in those days prisoners were simply incarcerated or put to hard labour.

I am reasonably relaxed on our pace as I will probably read all chapters together at the end of the month.

Most people seem happier to speed it up a bit so I think we’ll read Book 2 The Golden Thread Chapters 1 - 12 in February if that’s okay with everyone.
I’ll ask Mumsnet to change the Thread heading to 4 month read along and do a post ‘@‘ everyone who’s showed an interest in reading along so they know of the quicker pace.

Whilst I know that life can get in the way, or the book just isn’t for you, so some people will have dropped off the thread, I’m just alerting everyone who’s shown an interest to the slightly quicker readalong format we’re taking for A Tale Of Two Cities which is as follows:
January 2026
Book the First: Recalled to Life
Chapters 1 -6

February 2026
Book the Second: The Golden Thread
Chapters 1 - 12

March 2026
Book the Second: The Golden Thread
Chapters 13 -24

April 2026
Book the Third: The Track of a Storm
Chapters 1 - 15 (End of Novel)

This is because, now I have a physical copy, I can see it’s quite a short book (for Dickens anyway) and, dare I say it, better than I had imagined so easy to read over a shorter period.

@Benvenuto@BestIsWest@BitOutOfPractice @ChessieFL@CutFlowers@Forgotwhatimdoing @FuzzyCaoraDhubh @HelenaWilson@Hellohah @InTheCludgie@LadybirdDaphne@MagicSpaceTurtle@Midnightstar76@Misspost @MotherOfCatBoy@MrsALambert @NotWavingButReading@Scatterbugg@Summerbaby81@Terpsichore@ThePoshUns@TimeforaGandT @TremendousThirst @Troubledwords @TubeScreamer @cassandre @crumpet @nowanearlyNicemum @rivierliedje@peafritterandcurrysauce @stealthninjamum

Hope that’s everyone!

Great, thanks @DesdamonasHandkerchief . Happy to do a faster reading of it.

Great, thanks @DesdamonasHandkerchief

Thank you @DesdamonasHandkerchief

Thanks @DesdamonasHandkerchief

PP’s are spot on by the way with regard to the age of Mr Manette when he is released from prison, he’s referred to as ‘a man of five and forty years’ in Chapter 3 of Book 1 when Mr Lorry is dreaming about him.

Thank you @DesdamonasHandkerchief- happy with the shorter time scale.

This is a very interesting book for me to read alongside Les Mis both because the books are set close to each other in time and because Dickens and Hugo are contemporaries. Previously, I’ve read several books by Dickens, but never really loved any of them, and 1 book by Hugo that I really liked. The big problem for me with the first chapter is that it isn’t Hugo. I can see that it is bravura writing, and why the opening sentence is so famous, but while I have lots of patience for Hugo pontificating about history, I just don’t have the same for Dickens. I found the chapter very readable, but I felt that it didn’t have the impact on me that the author intended.

The second chapter, I really enjoyed though - somewhat unexpectedly as initially the troubles of travelling by coach didn’t sound particularly interesting. I did find the description of the horse having trouble & the passengers having to walk completely engrossing, especially with the added fear of Highwaymen to add tension. Given that Dickens had lived in Kent, I’m wondering if this was a route he knew well & if he had heard local legends about highwaymen. It also really surprised me as I don’t tend to think of Dickens as a realistic author - often I feel at arms-length from his characters as they are often exaggerated or have funny names. Jarvis Lorry with his neat wig possibly is that type of Dickens character, but I still felt completely immersed in what was happening to him.

I thought the introduction of the Desfarges was interesting and ambiguous- on the one hand they are helping M Manette, but then they are also profiting from letting people spy on him. The mob gathering to drink the wine also prefigures what will happen later in the Revolution. I’m wondering how Dickens will portray the Revolution when it happens, but judging from the & the mob, I’m guessing he won’t be on the side of the Revolutionaries. (I’ve coincidentally just started listening to Les Liaisons Dangereuses as an audiobook so I suspect that I won’t agree with him).

Re Lucie, I’m reserving my verdict. One of my big problems re Dickens is that I think his heroines often lack depth, so I hope there is more to her than being angelic.

I agree with you regarding the first chapter @Benvenuto and what was previously said about editing. But I’ve always been more character driven and I think the first chapter, though rich in phrase is just too dense for me

@MrsALambert- I’m definitely on the character driven side too & the evocative settings as I’ve always liked to be engrossed in a book since childhood. With Dickens, there is definitely more of a distance between reader and writer than say with Jane Austen or Thomas Hardy - I can enjoy reading books like that but I do have to really like the author’s style.

I was wondering though whether we miss something through not reading the book aloud. Dickens was known for his readings of his work, so presumably that influenced his writing as he would want something to show off his theatrical talents.

As usual, bringing up the rear... I've just finished my January chapters 😊
I struggled through the first chapter, knowing that I needed to keep going and I'd soon be engrossed - and so it was!
Thanks for all the added info, one and all.
Now, I'll crack on with February's chapters - especially as we have upped the pace.

Just as an aside, I was at primary school with Coralie Bickford-Smith who created the beautiful cover of your hardback copy @DesdamonasHandkerchief and I just love all of her work 😍

It is really beautiful @nowanearlyNicemum she’s very talented.
I don’t often read physical books these days but that one gives me a little thrill every time I pick it up!

I’m finding the second book a bit more of a slog than the first but that might be because I had a break between the two.

I'm another one who's also reading Les Mis.

I chanced upon both the Les Mis thread and this one whilst browsing and I'm immensely grateful.

Following a bereavement five (!) years ago, my concentration span was shot to pieces to the extent that that I wondered whether I was developing dementia. It seems that I just needed to exercise my brain and to follow a reading regime to get things back on track.

Thank you all. I'm very much obliged.

I've finished reading the January chapters today and I've started on the amended February chapters.

Welcome to the thread @WearyAuldWumman, sorry to hear about your bereavement, but glad that reading is helping get your brain back on track. Dickens and Victor Hugo will certainly tax the grey matter, not exactly mindless beach reading!

Thank you @DesdamonasHandkerchief .

I've just finished January's chapters a bit late. Happy with the new pace as I'm getting into it now.

It hasn't grabbed me as much as other Dickens I've read but I am starting to like it a lot more.

With Dickens, and as a Londoner, what often strikes me is how everything and nothing has changed really. Like when they are talking about crime being out of control it could be a conversation now but without the highwayman

I’ve just stumbled upon this thread and am so pleased! As you may guess from my user name I’m a huge fan of this book although it’s been a couple of years since I last read it, so I might do a quick skim through to catch up. I first read it as a Ladybird version when I was about 9 or 10 and loved it , although it’s the only Dickens book I have ever really read apart from A Christmas Carol so I’m not really familiar with his general style.

Im afraid I’ve never found much depth in Lucie Manette beyond golden hair, angelic goodness and an irritating tendency to swoon, usually when other people are in far greater danger or distress than she is 🤨 but maybe I’ll learn something new from this!

Hello Sydney! I love your username and namesake. I agree that this is a brilliant book.

I would like to suggest that one of Lucie's best qualities is her constancy. She is always there and is consistently herself (golden-haired, angelically good)... ;)

If ever we needed a Mumsnetter on this thread it’s @SydneyCarton !

I'm a bit behind as a load of my library reservations came in, so I'll try to get all caught up by end of next month.

Hello all, I'm just catching up on the thread again before I return to the book to read the February chapters. Welcome to @WearyAuldWumman and @SydneyCarton !

@Benvenuto your post from the beginning of the month (sorry this reply is so late) is very interesting. I confess I'm amazed that someone could prefer Hugo to Dickens. I'm team Dickens, definitely 😂Hugo (to the best of my memory anyway) can be cloyingly sentimental and a bit bombastic at times. Dickens IMO is much more versatile. Yes, he can be painfully sentimental as well, but he can also do sharp satire and comedy. He is hilarious and witty in a way I don't think Hugo can be. That said, I haven't read Hugo in a long time; I want to catch up with the Les Miz readalong (on which I'm VERY behind) and give Hugo a second chance!

I was also intrigued when you said, I’m wondering how Dickens will portray the Revolution when it happens, but judging from the & the mob, I’m guessing he won’t be on the side of the Revolutionaries.

I'm also keen to discover Dickens' take on the Revolution. Judging from Ch 1, he's no defender of the status quo. Take for instance that story he tells about the young man who was gruesomely tortured and killed for not kneeling down to a procession of passing monks: stories of injustice like this would later inspire the French revolutionaries. I suspect that Dickens would have been well aware both of the atrocities perpetrated under the French monarchy, AND of those later carried out by the revolutionaries. I'm looking forward to find out more, however!