A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror.
Cover of serial Vol. V, 1859
"The Sea Still Rises", an illustration for Book 2, Chapter 22 by "Phiz"
The seamstress and Carton, an illustration for Book 3, Chapter 15 by John McLenan (1859)
Illustration from a serialised edition of the story, showing three tricoteuses knitting, with the Vengeance standing in the centre.
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other types of narrative, including theatre, opera, cinema, and television, as well as video games and graphic novels. It often makes many use of symbolism in allegory using figurative and metaphorical elements to picture a story.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, published 1869 and set 60 years before
Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482, Victor Hugo (1831)
The Fifth Queen, 1906–1908 by Ford Madox Ford, is written about the 16th century.
A page from a printed copy of the Chinese historical novel Sui Tang yanyi (Romance of the Sui and Tang dynasties) by Chu Renhuo, collection of the University of Tokyo