I read this many years ago, but all I remembered of it was the first and last paragraphs. “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times … It is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before. It is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known.”

An interesting sidenote: these are among the most famous sentences in English yet note that they are written using passive verb forms. Just an observation.

I found this book took longer to finish than the other - and longer - books I have read by Dickens. I can’t say why. It was just harder to read, perhaps because it was more horrifying or perhaps because it was more tedious. I don’t know. But the book is a good argument for:

1) Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, and
2) Learning how to forgive and not hang onto grudges.

Not that the French aristocracy didn’t deserve a lot of what they got in the French revolution, but this book shows how many people got swept up in the purge that didn’t contribute to the ills of the lower classes at all.