60 Fun Facts About A Tale of Two Cities

Which two cities give A Tale of Two Cities its title?

Borges quipped that Dickens really could not write a tale of two cities, being a resident of just one: London.

In which year was A Tale of Two Cities published?

It is Dickens's best-known historical novel and one of the best-selling novels of all time.

How does the novel's famous first sentence begin?

The sentence piles up contrasting pairs that foreshadow the book's theme of doubles.

For how many years was Dr Manette imprisoned in the Bastille?

He emerges barely able to talk and obsessively makes shoes, a skill learned in prison.

What cryptic three-word message does Jarvis Lorry send back with Jerry Cruncher at the start of the novel?

It refers to Dr Manette's release, and gives Book the First its title.

Jarvis Lorry and the messenger Jerry Cruncher work for which London bank?

Lorry is put in charge of its Paris branch during the Revolution, which puts him in position to save the Manettes.

What craft does Dr Manette practise obsessively in his garret after his release?

He relapses into it on the morning of Lucie's wedding after learning her husband's true name.

What business do Ernest and Thérèse Defarge run in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine?

Defarge had been Dr Manette's servant as a youth and gives him lodgings on his release.

On what charge is Charles Darnay tried in London in 1780?

Two British spies testify against him.

How does Darnay's lawyer undermine the spy Barsad's claim that he would recognise Darnay anywhere?

The near-perfect resemblance between the two men drives the whole plot.

What does the Marquis St. Evrémonde do after his carriage kills a child in the Paris streets?

The coin is flung back into the carriage as he drives on.

Darnay is an anglicised version of what?

He dropped St. Evrémonde out of disdain for his aristocratic family.

Who kills the Marquis St. Evrémonde in his bed?

He evades capture for nearly a year before being hanged in the village.

What note is pinned to the murdered Marquis?

It mocks the careless speed that killed Gaspard's child.

What pet name does the governess Miss Pross use for Lucie?

She has looked after Lucie since the girl was ten and believes her scoundrel brother is the one man worthy of her.

What is Jerry Cruncher's secret night-time occupation?

His son follows him one night and aspires to the same trade.

What does Jerry Cruncher accuse his very religious wife of doing against him?

He blames her prayers for his failures at work and abuses her for it.

What is the title of Book the Second?

The golden thread is Lucie, who holds her family together and has hair like her mother's.

What nickname does Dickens give Sydney Carton because of his deference to the barrister Stryver?

He is a hard-drinking cynic who has watched Stryver advance while wasting his own gifts.

Whom does the ambitious barrister Stryver end up marrying after talking himself out of proposing to Lucie?

Jarvis Lorry had suggested that marrying Lucie would be unwise.

What does Darnay reveal to Dr Manette on the morning of his wedding to Lucie?

The revelation sends the doctor back to his old prison craft for days, a relapse kept secret from Lucie.

In which month and year do the Defarges help lead the storming of the Bastille in the novel?

Defarge searches Dr Manette's old cell thoroughly and finds a manuscript.

Whose pleading letter lures Darnay back to Paris in 1792?

Gabelle is named after the hated salt tax and has been coerced into writing.

In which Paris prison is Darnay held after his arrest as a returning aristocrat?

His family follow him to Paris and take lodgings near Lorry.

Who turns out to be Miss Pross's long-lost brother Solomon?

Carton blackmails him into helping by threatening to expose him as an English spy.

How does the Bastille manuscript read out at Darnay's retrial conclude?

The jury takes it as irrefutable proof of Darnay's guilt and condemns him to the guillotine.

What is the source of Madame Defarge's hatred of the Evrémondes?

She is revealed to be the surviving younger sister of the peasant family the brothers destroyed.

What does Madame Defarge secretly encode in her knitting?

She is a ringleader of the tricoteuses who knit beside the guillotine.

How does Madame Defarge die?

The shot permanently deafens Miss Pross.

What is the name of Madame Defarge's lieutenant and shadow?

Carton foresees her, Defarge, Cly and Barsad all perishing on the guillotine.

How does Carton get his lookalike out of the condemned cell?

Barsad then carries the unconscious Darnay out to the waiting carriage.

Who holds Carton's hand on the tumbril ride to the guillotine?

She alone realises he has taken another man's place and admires the sacrifice.

How does the novel's famous closing line begin?

It ends: it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

In the closing vision, what does Carton foresee the son who bears his name becoming?

He sees the boy grow up foremost of just judges, bringing his own son to the place of execution to hear the story.

To what age does Jarvis Lorry live, according to the end of the book?

He is a methodical gentleman of sixty when the novel opens, and a little vain of his good leg.

In which periodical did Dickens serialise the novel in 31 weekly instalments?

The first instalment ran in the magazine's very first issue on 30 April.

Dickens founded his new weekly after quarrelling with the publishers of which earlier magazine?

They had refused to print his personal statement about his separation from his wife.

Which Wilkie Collins play, in which Dickens acted, inspired the novel's love triangle?

Dickens played Richard Wardour, a man who gives his life so his rival can have the woman they both love.

A play by Watts Phillips with the same setting and climax led to talk of plagiarism. What was it called?

Dickens had been given the play to read while acting in the Collins production.

Which historian's The French Revolution: A History was Dickens's most important source?

Carlyle was enthusiastic about the finished novel, which heartily delighted Dickens.

To which prime minister did Dickens dedicate the novel?

The dedication reads: In remembrance of many public services and private kindnesses.

Which is the only other Dickens novel that is a work of historical fiction?

Both are set amid riots and revolution in the 18th century.

Lucie Manette may reflect Dickens's relationship with which young actress?

The character has been noted as resembling her physically.

Which critic dismissed the novel as "a dish of puppy pie and stewed cat"?

Mrs Oliphant more mildly found little of Dickens in it.

Research suggests which London house was the model for Dr Manette and Lucie's home?

It is now the House of St Barnabas, and the nearby street was renamed Manette Street.

Who played Sydney Carton in the 1935 MGM film, which was nominated for Best Picture?

Colman recreated the role three times on radio, including for Cecil B. DeMille's Favorite Story.

Who played Carton in the 1958 British film directed by Ralph Thomas?

Christopher Lee played the Marquis St. Evrémonde and Dorothy Tutin was Lucie.

Which 2012 superhero film drew on the novel and quotes Carton's last words in a eulogy?

Jim Gordon reads the passage at Bruce Wayne's graveside.

Where did the novel place in the BBC's 2003 Big Read poll?

WorldCat lists more than 1,500 editions of the book.

Who starred as Carton in the 1938 Mercury Theatre on the Air radio adaptation?

He played the part again on Lux Radio Theater in 1945.

Which composer of Jesus Christ Superstar-era musicals wrote Two Cities, the Spectacular New Musical, in 1968?

Edward Woodward starred; Jeff Wayne later wrote the musical War of the Worlds.

Jill Santoriello's musical A Tale of Two Cities opened on Broadway in 2008 at which theatre?

James Barbour played Carton and Natalie Toro was Madame Defarge.

How many chapters does the novel have?

Dickens also republished them as eight monthly parts in green covers.

In which year does the novel open, with Jerry Cruncher flagging down the Dover mail-coach?

Lorry meets Lucie Manette in Dover before crossing to Paris to collect her father from the Defarges.

Who is the second British spy, alongside John Barsad, who testifies against Darnay in London?

Cly later fakes his own funeral; Cruncher discovers the coffin held only rocks.

What does Jerry Cruncher find when he digs up the coffin from the spy Cly's funeral?

The discovery proves Cly is alive and gives Carton the leverage he needs over Barsad in Paris.

Besides the weekly serial, how else did Dickens issue the novel between April and November 1859?

All but three of his previous novels had first appeared in monthly instalments, so the format was familiar to his readers.

Which future Sherlock Holmes actor appeared in the 1935 MGM film alongside Ronald Colman?

Elizabeth Allan, Reginald Owen and Edna May Oliver rounded out the cast of the Best Picture nominee.

Who played Sydney Carton in BBC Radio 4's seven-hour 1989 dramatisation?

Nick McCarty adapted it and Ian Cotterell directed; a 2012 Mike Walker version won a Bronze Sony Radio Academy Award.

Which actor starred as Carton in the 1980 television film with Alice Krige and Kenneth More?

Krige played Lucie Manette in the adaptation; the same year Kenneth More was nearing the end of his career.