"The Tale of Two Cities" (D.T.) A Tale of Two Cities is an 1859 historical novel by Charles Dickens about the time of the French Revolution. The idea of "A Tale of Two Cities" came to Dickens during the performance in the play of Wilkie Collins as a man who sacrifices himself for the happiness of his beloved and dear to her heart man. This plot, which had parallels in the life of Dickens himself, was connected by thoughts about the French Revolution, gleaned during the reading of the historical book of Carlyle - a writer whom Dickens idolized and from whom he studied. In English-speaking countries, the only (with the exception of "Barneby Raja") historical novel Dickens became a textbook. It is claimed that with a circulation of 200 million copies, this is not only the most popular work of the writer in English-speaking countries, but also the main bestseller in the history of English-language prose. Nevertheless, the Russian-speaking readers of the book are relatively little known, probably due to the acutely critical image of revolutionary realities. Illustrations: Fred Barnard and "Phys" (X.) N. Brown)