Shownotes Transcript
Hello, my name's Tim. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Today's story has one of the most famous opening lines of all time. It's an epic tale of terrible cruelty and terrific courage set around the French Revolution.
We begin in 1775. The time is ten past eleven at night, and Jarvis Lorry, manager of Telson's Bank, is given a message asking him to meet a young woman, Lucie Manette, at Dover. Lorry tells her some astonishing news. Her father, who has spent eighteen years falsely imprisoned in the Bastille, an infamous Parisian prison,
has just been released. They travel to France and find him living above a wine shop owned by his former servants, Ernest and Thérèse Defarge. He has been in prison for such a long time that he's gone mad and spends his time obsessively making shoes. Laurie reassures Lucy that with love and care he will recover in no time and they all return home
Five years later, the French émigré Charles Darnay is on trial in London for treason. He has been framed by two spies, Cly and Bassard, who claim that they would recognise him anywhere. Darnay's lawyer points out that his colleague, Sidney Carton, looks almost identical to Darnay.
so they can't possibly be sure that Darnay is the right man. The tactic works. Darnay is acquitted. Back in France, the reprehensible Marquis Saint-Everimonde speeds his coach through the streets, striking and killing a child.
Barely taking the time to stop, he tosses a coin to the father and drives on. We learn that his nephew and heir is none other than Charles Darnay, who has renounced his family title and changed his name. That night, the Marquis is murdered by the father of the child he killed. Darnay asks Lucy's father for permission to marry her.
Carton also loves Lucie, but knows he has no chance due to his reputation as a drunkard who wastes his time in cynicism and self-loathing. Nevertheless, he promises to love and support Lucie. Time passes and Darnay and Lucie raise a family. The year is now 1789 and revolution breaks out in France.
Defarge leads the storming of the Bastille, while Madame Defarge passes the time patiently knitting out a registry of people the revolution should execute. Looks like time's up for the aristocracy. Darnay receives a letter from a former family servant who has been imprisoned by the revolutionaries. As the current Marquis Evremonde, he decides it's his duty to help.
He heads to France, but is immediately arrested. Lucie and her father rush to the rescue, staying near Laurie, who is in Paris for business. Lucie's father's long stint during time in the Bastille has made him legendary, so when he testifies for Darnay, the court initially releases him.
However, Defarge has preserved a document from the Bastille. It explains how Darnay's relatives assaulted a young woman and murdered her brother. Lucy's father had been arrested all that time ago simply for trying to help. The evidence is devastating and Darnay is sentenced to death to answer for his ancestor's crimes.
Carton is in Paris too, and bumps into Barsad, the spy from years earlier, who is posing as a Frenchman and working in Darnay's jail. Carton threatens to reveal his identity unless he helps. Barsad lets Carton enter the jail in secret, where he swaps places with Darnay.
Outside, Lucy is waiting in a carriage with her family. There is no time to lose. They flee for England. Awaiting his death, Carton has a vision of a happier future. The story ends with him content to die, knowing that his life finally has meaning.
It's a brilliant story. I could have gone on longer, but we would have run out of time. I hope you enjoyed it too, and that you'll join me again soon for another classic story. Goodbye.