The Literature Book

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

(1859), CHARLES DICKENS

One of only two historical novels

written by the prolific English writer

Charles Dickens (see p.147), A Tale

of Two Cities is set in London and

Paris before and during the 1789

French Revolution. Notable for its

lack of humor, it tells the story

of Dr. Manette; his granddaughter

Lucie; her husband, émigré Charles

Darnay; and Darnay’s lookalike,

Sydney Carton. Describing the

plight of the peasantry, the

storming of the Bastille, and the

horrors of the guillotine, Dickens

creates suspense when a long-

buried secret is revealed, putting

Darnay’s life at risk.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

(1860–1861), CHARLES DICKENS

One of Dickens’ greatest critical

and popular successes, Great

Expectations opens on the misty

Kent marshes where Pip, an orphan

novel,” The Moonstone by Wilkie

Collins concerns the mysterious

theft of a priceless Indian diamond

from an English country house.

It utilizes the same method of

multiple narrators that Collins

had deployed to great effect in his

earlier work The Woman in White.

First published in serial form, the

book established what would later

become the classic detective novel

elements: suspense, misleading

clues and happenings, a bungling

local policeman, a brilliant but

FURTHER READING

raised by a harsh sister and her

kindly husband, blacksmith Joe

Gargery, encounters an escaped

convict. Time passes and Pip’s life

changes dramatically with news

of “great expectations” from an

anonymous benefactor, who enables

him to become a gentleman. Written

with perhaps the finest examples

of Dickens’ much-loved humor, the

plot features many unforgettable

characters: faded and embittered

Miss Havisham; cold and haughty

Estella, her adopted daughter; and

convict Abel Magwitch. Ultimately

the discovery of his benefactor’s

identity turns Pip’s life upside down.

THÉRÈSE RAQUIN

(1867), EMILE ZOLA

Initially serialized, Thérèse Raquin

by French writer Zola (see p.191)

tells the tragic story of the heroine,

Thérèse. Unhappily married to her

sickly cousin Camille, she embarks

on a torrid love affair with Laurent,

a friend of her husband’s. The two

lovers murder Camille, an act that

haunts them for the rest of their

lives, turning their passion to

hatred. Remarkable for Zola’s

scientific study of “temperament,”

the novel, which was criticized by

some for being “putrid,” helped to

establish him as a great writer.

THE MOONSTONE

(1868), WILKIE COLLINS

Described by T. S. Eliot as “the

first, the longest and the best

of the modern English detective

198

Wilkie Collins

Born in London in 1824, the

son of the landscape painter

William Collins, Wilkie Collins

discovered a gift for devising

tales as a teenager while at

boarding school, thanks to a

bully who demanded a story

before allowing him to sleep

each night. He was introduced

to Dickens in 1851 and became

protégé to the literary colossus,

with whom he collaborated

and formed a close friendship

that grew over the next two

decades. In the 1860s Collins

wrote his most celebrated and

enduring works, becoming

established as the pioneer of

mystery stories and suspense

fiction, a genre that later gave

rise to the detective novel. He

died in 1889 of a stroke.

Key works

1859–60 The Woman in White

1868 The Moonstone

(see below)

We need never be ashamed of

shedding tears ... they are rain

on the blinding dust of earth ...

Great Expectations

Charles Dickens

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