As a child, Charles Dickens(1812-70) came to know not only hunger
and privation, but also the horror of the infamous debtors' prison
and the evils of child labor. A surprise legacy brought release
from the nightmare of prison and "slave" factories and afforded
Dickens the opportunity of two years' formal schooling. He taught
himself shorthand and worked as a parliamentary reporter until his
writing career took off with the publication of Sketches by
Boz(1836) and The Pickwick Papers(1837). As a novelist and magazine
editor, Dickens had a long run of serialized success through Our
Mutual Friend(1864-65). In later years, ill health slowed him down,
but he continued his popular dramatic readings from his fiction to
an adoring public, which included Queen Victoria. At his death, The
Mystery of Edwin Droodremained unfinished.
Distinguished writer, teacher, and critic Frederick Buschwas the
author of more than twenty works of fiction, including North,
Girls, and The Mutual Friend, a novel about Charles Dickens.
A. N. Wilsonwas born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College,
Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he has held a
prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. Among
his acclaimed biographies are Livesof Sir Walter Scott (John
Llewellyn Rhys Prize), Tolstoy (Whitbread Award for Biography),
C.S. Lewis, Hilaire Belloc, and Iris Murdoch. The Victorians, his
study of the Victorian Age, and its sequel, After the Victorians,
were both published to widest critical acclaim, and he is the
award-winning author of such novels as My Name Is Legionand The
Healing Art.
“[A Tale of Two Cities] has the best of Dickens and the worst of Dickens: a dark, driven opening, and a celestial but melodramatic ending; a terrifyingly demonic villainess and (even by Dickens’ standards) an impossibly angelic heroine. Though its version of the French Revolution is brutally simplified, its engagement with the immense moral themes of rebirth and terror, justice, and sacrifice gets right to the heart of the matter . . . For every reader in the past hundred and forty years and for hundreds to come, it is an unforgettable ride.”—Simon Schama
Gr 9 Up-Charles Dickens's classic tale of one family's suffering during the French Revolution is brought to life in this audio adaptation. The voice of Audie Award-winning narrator Simon Vance sets the tone for the characters and creates the Dickensesqe mood of the times when the rich and the poor were far apart and no one was exempt from the ensuing wrath during the Revolution. Vance's stone varies from soothing to animated while creating different voices for the characters and using appropriate accents. A bonus feature on the last CD is an e-book in pdf format that can be printed or used as a read-along while listening to the audio. This easily navigated feature would be particularly helpful for struggling readers.-Jeana Actkinson, Bridgeport High School, TX Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
"[A Tale of Two Cities] has the best of Dickens and the worst of Dickens: a dark, driven opening, and a celestial but melodramatic ending; a terrifyingly demonic villainess and (even by Dickens' standards) an impossibly angelic heroine. Though its version of the French Revolution is brutally simplified, its engagement with the immense moral themes of rebirth and terror, justice, and sacrifice gets right to the heart of the matter . . . For every reader in the past hundred and forty years and for hundreds to come, it is an unforgettable ride."-Simon Schama
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