A Tale of Two Cities

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Tom Baker

Set against the bloody background of the French Revolution, this is perhaps Dickens' most famous work. Doctor Manette, his devoted daughter Lucie, and the young French aristocrat Charles Darnay are memorable characters. Above all the others rises the reckless Sidney Carton, whose selfless love makes him one of literature's great heroes.Public Domain (P)2009 Audio Holdings, LLC

I hadn’t realized it was an abridged version

I searched audio for audio books read by Tom Baker and this showed up in the search.
I was excited when the search results included, 'A Tale of Two Cities.’
What could be better than Tom Baker reading Charles Dickens?

Now I know that better thing would be, Tom Baker reading all of a work by Charles Dickens.

Wish it weren’t abridged

Tom Baker is such a brilliant reader, it makes me want more more more. It’s not that I mind abridgements, and I knew going into it that I would only be getting a fraction of the story. But I still found myself wishing they’d added another hour or two to fill out this or that detail or subplot. Madame Defarge hardly shows up at all, and so many plot developments are left to be inferred — it’s more a kind of a series of snapshots from here and there in the novel, and what’s happened in between is clear, but you don’t actually see one event leading slowly and organically to the next the way you do in the original.

I have a completely unscientific theory. My theory is that you can abridge something to about 40% of the original length and still retain the overall sense of the story’s development and something of its feel. This one works out to about 20%, so it’s really more of a sampler.

But oh well. I didn’t get it for that. I got it because Tom Baker’s voice thrills me to the marrow of my bones, and he does not disappoint.

Outstanding performance

By all involved, excellent! The narrative was great. Just excellent job. I can’t say enough.

Brilliantly read by Tom Baker

You wouldn't think anything could make this classic any better, but Tom Baker's narration is exquisite. I hope he can be persuaded to read more Dickens.

Performance

A classic, brought to life by the narrator. I enjoyed this very much. Haven’t read this since high school but wanted to reach back and experience it again through audio and I was not disappointed.