Tale of Two Cities (Edited Classic)

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times . . ."

The year is 1789. In London, Lucie Darnay lives quietly with her father, who is a former prisoner, and her husband and child. In Paris, the bloody French Revolution is about to begin. How will the uprisings in faraway France affect Lucie and those she loves? What dreadful secrets from the distant past threaten their security, even their lives? When the best of times" becomes the worst of times" and violence is everywhere, who must die . . . and who will survive?

Townsend Library classics have been edited to make them more accessible to todays readers. But the books have not been abridged in the sense of shortening them by sacrificing story development, character richness, and the authors voice. In our experience, abridged books result from a simplistic removal of large chunks of material or a formulaic translation that robs a book of its distinctive flavor. By contrast, as we produce a Townsend Library title, we seek to edit the material carefully and respectfully in order to preserve the qualities that have made the book a classic.

TL editors approach every book entirely on its own merits, guided constantly by these questions:

What will get in the way of a readers enjoyment of this wonderful story?

How can the story be made more readable while preserving the integrity of the original book?