A Tale of Two Cities Book Club Questions

Ten discussion questions for Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities (1859) - written for groups who have finished the book and want an argument, not a summary. Full spoilers ahead. The first six are anchored to this novel’s specific turns; the last four keep the room talking when the wine runs low.

Print questions

A Tale of Two Cities book club questions · readeasy.app/book-club-questions/a-tale-of-two-cities/

1. 1. Dickens opens with everything doubled and ends with two men traded for one life. Is Carton's sacrifice a romance, a resurrection, or a suicide — argue one.

2. 2. Madame Defarge knits the Revolution's death list. Is she the book's villain, or its most consistent moralist?

3. 3. Dr Manette is 'recalled to life' but relapses into shoemaking under pressure. What does the relapse say about whether the past can be buried?

4. 4. Darnay renounces his title and emigrates, and the Revolution condemns him anyway. Is the novel arguing that innocence is irrelevant to history?

5. 5. Carton tells Lucie he would give his life for 'any dear to you.' Is that love, or the book's most elaborate way of avoiding a life?

6. 6. The Reign of Terror chapters were written from London's newspapers. Where does Dickens's second-hand Paris show — and does it matter to the story he's telling?

7. 7. What did A Tale of Two Cities make you feel that you didn't want to feel?

8. 8. If you had to cut one plotline from A Tale of Two Cities entirely, which goes — and what does the book lose?

9. 9. Whose story in A Tale of Two Cities deserved its own novel instead of a chapter?

10. 10. The first line of A Tale of Two Cities — does the book keep the promise it makes? Where best and where worst?

How to run the meeting

Don’t go in order. Open with whichever question matches your group’s mood - a quiet room starts with a character question, a lively one starts with an argument about the ending. Let one question run until it genuinely dies, then jump. Two rules keep it alive: every claim gets pointed at the text (someone will have the book on their phone), and “I hated it” counts as an opinion that must be defended like any other.

A Tale of Two Cities runs about 136,000 words - roughly 489 pages - so a month between meetings is comfortable at 30 minutes a day; the full session math is on the reading time page. For a quicker take on who actually finished it, open the meeting with the A Tale of Two Cities quiz - scores settle grudges faster than discussion. The book’s famous quotes make good meeting-openers too, and if the group wants a next pick built like this one, the books like A Tale of Two Cities list is the handout.

Taking the club through the whole author? Our Charles Dickens books in order guide orders the full shelf.

Ground rules that save meetings

Three habits keep a club alive past the first bottle. First, the person who picked the book opens the discussion - they owe the group one sentence on why they chose it, which is usually the strongest prompt of the night. Second, silence is allowed to sit for a full ten seconds; the second answer is always better than the first. Third, end on the next pick while everyone is still arguing, because momentum is the only renewable fuel a book club has. The questions above are written to survive all three rules.

More book club question sets

Great Expectations questions, Heart of Darkness questions, The Time Machine questions, The Hound of the Baskervilles questions - or grab questions for all 133 classics. For the end-of-season meeting, the mixed-classics book quiz settles who read the most.

Frequently asked questions