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Quick answer: If you loved A Tale of Two Cities, try Les Misérables, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Great Expectations, David Copperfield, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Each one offers sweeping history, sacrifice, revolution or Dickensian storytelling at its best.
Charles Dickens's 1859 novel is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. Doctor Manette is released after eighteen years in the Bastille, his daughter Lucie marries the French aristocrat Charles Darnay, and the cynical lawyer Sydney Carton, who loves Lucie, makes one of the most famous sacrifices in literature. Readers love its drama, its opening lines and its ending. These books share its history, its heroism and its scale.
Table of Contents
Quick Picks at a Glance
| Book | Author | Setting | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Les Misérables | Victor Hugo | France | readers who want the great revolutionary epic |
| The Scarlet Pimpernel | Baroness Orczy | France and England | readers who want adventure |
| Great Expectations | Charles Dickens | England | readers who want more Dickens |
| David Copperfield | Charles Dickens | England | readers who want a whole life on the page |
| The Count of Monte Cristo | Alexandre Dumas | France | readers who love revenge |
| The Three Musketeers | Alexandre Dumas | France | readers who want swashbuckling fun |
| A Place of Greater Safety | Hilary Mantel | France | readers who want the revolution itself |
| Ninety-Three | Victor Hugo | France | readers who want the Terror |
| Middlemarch | George Eliot | England | readers who want a long Victorian classic |
| War and Peace | Leo Tolstoy | Russia | readers who want the ultimate historical epic |
| Barnaby Rudge | Charles Dickens | England | readers who want Dickens's other historical novel |
| Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel | England | readers who like political danger |
| Gone with the Wind | Margaret Mitchell | American South | readers who like history and romance |
| Doctor Zhivago | Boris Pasternak | Russia | readers who like love in revolution |
| Citizens | Simon Schama | Nonfiction | readers who want the true history |
1. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
A former convict seeks redemption while a policeman hunts him.
Best for: readers who want the great revolutionary epic.
2. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
An English nobleman secretly rescues aristocrats from the guillotine.
Best for: readers who want adventure.
3. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
An orphan receives a mysterious fortune.
Best for: readers who want more Dickens.
4. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
A boy grows up through hardship in Victorian England.
Best for: readers who want a whole life on the page.
5. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
A wrongly imprisoned man escapes and takes his revenge.
Best for: readers who love revenge.
6. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
A young Gascon joins three musketeers in court intrigue.
Best for: readers who want swashbuckling fun.
7. A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
The novel follows Danton, Robespierre and Desmoulins.
Best for: readers who want the revolution itself.
8. Ninety-Three by Victor Hugo
Royalist rebels and republicans clash in 1793.
Best for: readers who want the Terror.
9. Middlemarch by George Eliot
Lives in an English town are shaped by marriage and ambition.
Best for: readers who want a long Victorian classic.
10. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Families live through Napoleon's invasion of Russia.
Best for: readers who want the ultimate historical epic.
11. Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
London's Gordon Riots erupt around a simple young man.
Best for: readers who want Dickens's other historical novel.
12. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Thomas Cromwell rises in the court of Henry VIII.
Best for: readers who like political danger.
13. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Scarlett O'Hara survives the Civil War and its aftermath.
Best for: readers who like history and romance.
14. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
A doctor and poet loves a woman through the Russian Revolution.
Best for: readers who like love in revolution.
15. Citizens by Simon Schama
A vivid history of the French Revolution.
Best for: readers who want the true history.
How We Chose These Books
Every pick is a real, widely available book that shares something specific with A Tale of Two Cities: its tone, its themes, its pace or the kind of characters it puts at the center. We mixed well-known favorites with a few less obvious titles, and we noted who each book suits best so you can match it to the reader. Where a book belongs to a series, we list the first volume so you can start at the beginning.
If you are not sure where to begin, start with the first three picks in the table: they are the closest match to A Tale of Two Cities. The rest of the list moves further out, so it works well once you know which part of the original you liked most. If a pick is part of a longer series, read the first book before you commit, and check the age or content notes in the table before passing a book to a younger reader.
How to Choose
Readers who love the revolution should go straight to Les Misérables or The Scarlet Pimpernel, the first for depth and the second for adventure. For more Dickens, Great Expectations is the best next step, while Barnaby Rudge is his other historical novel. If Carton's sacrifice moved you, The Count of Monte Cristo and Doctor Zhivago have similarly grand emotions. For the true story, Citizens explains the events Dickens dramatized.
Related: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel: Summary and Key Takeaways
Frequently Asked Questions
What is A Tale of Two Cities about?
It follows several characters in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution.
What are the famous first lines?
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
Who is Sydney Carton?
A cynical lawyer who loves Lucie Manette and makes a great sacrifice at the end.
Is A Tale of Two Cities hard to read?
It is shorter than most Dickens novels, but its style takes some patience.
What are the two cities?
London and Paris.