A Tale of Two Cities is a novel written by Charles Dickens originally published in weekly installments in Dickens own literary journal the novel is sent during the violent French Revolution A Tale of Two Cities follows the Epic love triangle involving Charles darnay a French Aristocrat Sydney Carton his look-alike and the Beautiful Lucy manette set in 1775 the novel opens with the very famous line it was the best of times it was the worst of times Jarvis Laurie a bank clerk is traveling from London to Dover to meet with Lucy manette the daughter of one of his old friends Lucy's father the once esteemed Dr manette has long been imprisoned in the Bastille she believes him to be dead upon Lori's arrival he shocks Lucy by revealing that her father is in fact alive or as he puts it in a letter to his colleague recalled to life Lori takes Lucy to France to reunite her with Dr manette Who is being housed in the wine shop of defarge manette's former servant driven mad by years of imprisonment Dr manette spends his time working as a cobbler Lori encourages Lucy to shower her father with affection she does and over the course of five years her father regains his sanity the story then jumps ahead to 1780 London where Charles darnay is being tried for providing English secrets to the French and the Americans during the American Revolution darnay's lawyer Mr striver has a disgraced colleague from whom he seeks advice this alcoholic colleague Sydney Carton happens to look remarkably similar to the accused man darnay when Sydney Carton appears in the courtroom everything is thrown into chaos since carton looks nearly identical to darnay the court cannot definitively identify darnay as the Spy they are forced to acquit him Faithfully darnay Carton and Mr striver all fall in love with Lucy manette who served as an unwilling witness for the prosecution after a year of courtship Lucy decides to marry darnay but carton tells Lucy that while he does not expect her to return his love he would do anything for her or for anyone she cares about on the morning of the couple's wedding darnay reveals to Dr manette that he is a French nobleman who renounced his title when the couple returns from their honeymoon darnay and carton agreed to be friends darnay visits his uncle Monsignor evermond in France who is that very day run over a peasant child with his carriage disgusted by his uncle's lack of remorse darnay curses everyone a family name darnay has renounced and declares his intention to return to England the following day the monsignor's behavior exemplifies the French aristocracy's pitiless attitude towards the common people indeed he is murdered in bed the next morning a note signed Jacques is left behind by The Peasant child's father Gaspard back in Paris an English spy named John barcid drops into defarge's wine shop to gather evidence and determine whether defarge is a revolutionary while defarge reveals practically nothing his wife Madame defarge secretly knits a list of people she and the other revolutionaries intend to kill eight years later in 1789 the French Revolution is underway peasants storm the best deal and murder Aristocrats in the streets major gobel the man in charge of the evermond estate is imprisoned and urgently requests that darnay returned to Paris when he does darnay is arrested as a nobleman and an immigrant he's thrown into jail Dr Minette Lucy and her daughter followed darnay to Paris the doctor temporarily secures darnay's release by using his power among the revolutionaries as a former Bastille prisoner but darnay is eventually denounced by the now powerful defarges who produce a document found in manette's former cell it reveals that manette was jailed by the evermonts for witnessing the rape of a peasant girl and the murder of her brother as a result darnay is sentenced to death carton however is determined to help Lucy arriving in Paris carton overhears the defarge's plan to kill Lucy and her child and realizes that Madame defarge is the surviving sister of the evermont victims acting quickly carton arranges for the minettes to leave Paris immediately carton soon recognizes John barcid as Solomon cross the long-lost brother of Miss Pros Lucy minette's servant he recruits barcid who works as a turnkey in the concierge to break into darnay's cell carton then drug starnayan takes his place having barced carry darnay to safety meanwhile Madame defarge knocks on Lucy's door to arrest her but the manettes have already fled to safety she is instead confronted with the extremely protective Miss Pros who accidentally shoots Madame defarsh dead while darnay safely joins the manettes in London carton impersonates darnay and dies in his place at the guillotine satisfied with his final act of kindness towards Lucy