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 liked the Gradesaver observation about how the thread imagery unites Lucie and Mme Defarge: Lucie is weaving a metaphorical golden thread of love and family ties, while Mme Defarge is literally knitting, but encoding violence and death in her work. Mme Defarge is such a creepy figure; I remember her vividly from my long-ago first reading of this novel, and she hasn't lost any of her sinister quality!

I think the bit I found most moving in this section was when Dr Manette returned to his prisoner state. The depiction of mental trauma seems very modern to me. It's interesting the way that Mr Lorry treats him so delicately, and how they both discuss his case in the third person, which creates a bit of necessary distance I suppose, since the trauma is so acute. I like the way Mr Lorry doesn't try to impose a diagnosis on the sufferer (Dr Manette) but listens to him and takes the patient's own diagnosis of himself seriously. Very interesting!

It makes me a bit uncomfortable that the news of her father's relapse must be kept secret from Lucie, as though she were a child who must be protected at all costs.

I thought the same as you Desdamona about how quickly Dickens evoked the death of Lucie's son. It felt too abrupt. In contrast in Dombey and Son, the theme of child death is evoked at great length and so are the aftereffects.

Poor Darnay, he is very naive to think that he can do anything to stem the ongoing horrors of the Terror! As readers we've already heard that the Defarges have it in for him. M. Defarge remarks a little ruefully on the strangeness of how, given that they previously rescued Lucie's father and had so much sympathy for him, now Lucie's husband's name is knitted into Mme Defarge's death list. But Mme Defarge is implacable.

I admire the way Dickens conveys both the ruthless of the revolutionaries, and the history of injustice that made them so desperate in the first place. Now the peasants can kill the aristocrats, but they still can't get enough food.

This is a story of both personal and collective trauma.

Oh yes you’re right cassandre it is the Marquis who is murdered. It is a bit confusing. I knew one had left the others party when they were introduced but I’d obviously subsequently conflated the two in my head.

Good point about Dickens creating a reoccurring selfless, good hearted but slightly dodgy character who aides and abets the main protaginist/s. I’m sure there’s a dissertation piece to be written there! Nancy in Oliver Twist could maybe be the only female to fulfill this role - although I confess I’m going off adaptations having never read the novel.

I agree that Lucie and Madame Defarge are meant to be viewed as a pair - both supportive wives but one doing her duty as a child-producing angel of the hearth and the other running around sawing aristos’ heads off like an anti-feminine harpy.

I think Sydney Carton is the most attractive character of the bunch and I’d definitely have been tempted if I was Lucie… but then, he’s already being played by Kit Harrington in my mental landscape…

Agreed Daphne, Sydney Carton is a much more multi-faceted character than Charles Darnay!

😂at your comparison of Lucie and Mme Defarge. The latter really is like Lady Macbeth. I can't imagine her having children somehow. I was also surprised by how innocuous she looks in the illustration by Phiz (those are the ones reproduced in the Penguin Classics edition).

[Sydney Carton] is already being played by Kit Harrington in my mental landscape…

He was Dirk Bogarde in the 1958 film. (Don't go looking for pics of Dirk as Sydney if you haven't finished the book, they're spoilery.)

I've fallen behind on this.

I changed my opinion of Lucie a bit when I read the scene where Mr Lorry takes her to see Dr Manette for the first time. She had some character there. She showed courage and initiative and devotion, when a sheltered young girl, as she was then, might have been overwhelmed and frightened.

There's a Manette Street in London, running between Charing Cross Road and Greek Street in Soho. Runs along where Foyle's bookshop used to be.

Thanks for the observations about the Marquis & Monseigneur @cassandre. That was confusing me too!

Caught up now. Thank you @DesdamonasHandkerchieffor the summaries and keeping us on track.

Imutual thoughts:

Glad to have discovered Jerry's nefarious sideline!

I am finding Lucie a bit too good to be true - always enough time for everyone, never hurried, much loved etc. Still quite childlike even though she is married with children and has lost a child.

How do the Defarges know that Charles Darnay is the Marquis? He hasn't told anyone (except Dr Manette) and has not been to the chateau.

Mme Defarge is a brilliant character, wielding her power from her stool at the wine bar and via her knitted notes (although they may be of limited value if only she and Defarge can interpret them).

I can't believe poor Mr Lorry is setting off for revolutionary Paris at the age of 80.

Will be back.....

Thank you @DesdamonasHandkerchief for the summaries and analysis.

There was a footnote in my edition about the Marquis and Monseigneur. Even then, I had to think about it. The use of the generic 'Jacques/Monseigneur/St. Antoine' to refer to a revolutionary/aristocrat/neighbourhood spy ring' is good; a bit like a code. Could be confusing, though. Which Jacques? Un, deux, ou trois?!

I loved this section of the book. We're getting into the thick of it now. I'm trying to remember how the Defarges knew that Darnay is the Marquis. Did they hear it from someone else? They knew he got married to Lucie. Mme Defarge and her knitted secret agenda is a brilliant creation. I loved the moment too when she put a rose in her hair to signal the appearance of the stranger in the wine bar. So sinister. I like the comparison to Lady Macbeth.

Edit: I used 'sinister' twice. But she is sinister.

I agree @TimeforaGandT about Lucie being a bit too good to be true. I'm reminded of how appallingly Dickens eventually treated his own wife. Lucie runs the household without ever seeming stressed, makes everything seem so effortless... this does strike me as a man's fantasy of what a perfect wife should be like 😂

And Mme Defarge is equally competent, but in a very different way!

It's the spy John Barsad who tells the Defarges that Darnay is the new Marquis (in the same convo where he is pretending to be upset about Gaspard's death, and hoping that the Defarges will incriminate themselves). From Bk II, Ch 16 ('Still Knitting'):
After sipping his cognac to the end, [the spy] added:
'Yes, Miss Manette is going to be married. But not to an Englishman; to one who, like herself, is French by birth. And speaking of Gaspard [...], it is a curious thing that she is going to marry the nephew of Monsieur the Marquis, for whom Gaspard was exalted to that height of so many feet; in other words, the present Marquis. But he lives unknown in England, he is no Marquis there; he is Mr Charles Darnay. D'Aulnais is the name of his mother's family.'
Madame Defarge knitted steadily, but the intelligence had a palpable effect on her husband.

Barsad is a real troublemaker.

Incidentally I noticed that sometimes when the Defarges are speaking, Dickens seems to give their English a French flavour, as though he were translating from the French.
Mme D says to the road-mender about the apartment, 'It will suit you to a marvel' (= 'à merveille'?).
The road-mender says to Defarge, 'Where shall I commence, monsieur?' and Defarge replies, 'Commence [...] at the commencement'. ('commencer' = 'begin' in French).
Mme D says to her husband about Barsad, 'Eh well! It is necessary to register him. How do they call that man?' (Again I can almost hear the 'Eh bien! Il faut l'enregistrer' in French.)

I do love the fact that little Lucie is bilingual, like her parents.

My brain wants to read Bad Ass for Barsad.

😂Very appropriate @FuzzyCaoraDhubh !

Although the badass par excellence of the novel is Madame Defarge; everyone else pales in comparison to her

Absolument 💯

Manette Street is actually named after the fictional characters, as it’s roughly where they would have lived. There’s a pub on it called The Pillars of Hercules where I once went for Christmas drinks with work but our manager wasn’t allowed in because despite being the most senior he was also the most drunk.

The comparison between the Defarges and the Macbeths is good; in both instances it’s the female half of the couple who’s the instigator and the one who drives the other person on. Defarge is clearly a committed revolutionary but without his wife’s single minded determination to destroy the Evremondes. I also like her coughing “a grain of cough”

I love the fact that there is a street called Manette Street in London.

Thank you @cassandre - I wonder how Barsad knew Darnay's real identity?

Does Lucie run the household or does Miss Pross run everything?

I think John Barsad was one of the ones who had been spying on Darney and gave evidence against him at his trial - that’s how he knew his real identity.

Never mind bad ass - he’s John Bastard in my head.

Finally caught up with both the book and everyone’s comments. Definitely plenty going on in this section.

I love that Mme Defarge has a friend who
is simply known as The Vengeance!

Yay, well done Chessie

We now have the longest section to read by the end of April, although we can add a week or more on to that deadline if people are struggling with the faster pace.
I must confess I haven’t started Book 3 yet!

I decided to read a chapter every couple of days for April as I got a bit behind in Feb and March. I started Book 3 on Saturday and finished on Sunday! It is quite exciting 😀

Well done @CutFlowers
I need to read a book club book first but will then come back to ATOTC

You’re well ahead of the game @CutFlowers. I’m hoping to get swept up in it too when I eventually start it.

Hope you enjoy - it definitely has sweeping potential!