"This is the best time, this is the worst time, this is the age of wisdom, this is the age of stupidity, this is the age of faith, this is the age of doubt, this is the season of light, this is the season of darkness, this is the spring of hope, this is the winter of despair ..."

Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities begins and ends with some of the most famous poems in English literature, full of tension and conflict, and the background is the bloody French Revolution.

Now is the late period of 1775. After being a political prisoner in the Bastille in France for 18 years, the elderly doctor Manette was finally released and reunited with his beautiful and kind daughter Lucy Manette in England. There, two very different men-Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carlton, a notorious but brilliant English lawyer-were entangled in their love for the lovely Lucy. At the height of the reign of terror, against their will, they were taken from the quiet roads in London to the dangerous streets in Paris and were soon guillotined. More information about these roles.

Through his senses, Dickens brought us page by page into another era. Smell the sour taste of red wine, because it is sprinkled on the street, which often stains the faces, hands and feet of farmers who drink red wine in despair; When one of Lucy's suitors is put on trial, she feels the competition of heartache and hope; Hear the cries of the mob and the clang of weapons when they attack the Bastille; See the flash of the guillotine when it quickly descends to the victim below. The sense of urgency and intimacy in this novel will attract you and push you through one of the most turbulent times in history.

Intentional history

Dickens did not whitewash the signs of this era-images of death, burial, graves and ghosts are everywhere, but the theme of resurrection and redemption is very strong. When the characters struggle with their own demons, the unfolding of the event reveals how entangled and important (good or bad) they are with each other. Will the sudden confession make Dr Manette fall into an incoherent mental state again? Is it really too late for poor Sidney Carlton to turn his life around? Will the discovery of mysterious letters lead to someone's death? What secret drives a family to take such revenge?

Even today-0/50 years after the publication of/kloc-and more than two centuries after the French Revolution-Dickens' novels are still telling us. Its dramatic and touching story depicts the complexity of human nature and how we are shaped by our desires, politics and loyalty. Despite its historical background, it is actually one of Dickens' short stories, full of intense and polarized desires, even more complicated than those infamous opening lines suggest.

You can find it on Google, a lot.