u/Spirited-Tutor7712

So, this wasn't the novel I thought it would be..for better and for worse 😄

I'd thought it would be centered around Darnay and Carton, as two opposites and doubles - but Dickens seems to be interested more in making Time and History the key player here, sweeping along everyone in its path, but there is always a hope of salvation and redemption somewhere. It takes one brave person to be that hope...

Some fantastic passages, great descriptions, moving scenes, some funny moments ...but also Dickens deliberately omitting things we needed to know (?) and some glaring problems in his storyline. Didn't hit as hard as Bleak House when I read that as a student way back when, which still remains my favourite Dickens.

Also, shout-out to this edition by Penguin and superb notes and introduction by Richard Maxwell. And excellent choice of cover art !