The life
Sent to work in a blacking factory at twelve when his father was imprisoned for debt — a humiliation he never spoke of publicly. He became the century's most popular novelist and a furious reformer.
He put the city, the child and the institution into the novel and made them inseparable.
Annotated here2 texts
NovelVictorian
A Tale of Two Cities — Opening
Charles Dickens · 1859
The most famous opening sentence in fiction, and what it's actually doing.
Steady · 4 minRead→
NovelVictorian
Great Expectations — Opening
Charles Dickens · 1861
A marsh, a small boy, and the most atmospheric opening in English fiction.
Gentle · 3 minRead→