An Unexpected Sacrifice

The gospel according to Charles Dickens.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” — Galatians 2:20

It’s a story of an unexpected, stunning sacrifice.

Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities, follows a number of characters through the tumultuous events of the French Revolution of the late 18th century. Two of the main characters are Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton.

Darnay is a French aristocrat and a target of the revolutionaries. Carton, once an orphan, is a barrister from England — a foreigner on French soil. The two men have little in common, except they share an uncanny physical resemblance. They are practically twins. They also share a love for the same woman — Lucie Manette.

Lucie loves the Frenchman, Darnay, who, by the end of the story, is imprisoned and awaiting execution by guillotine. Just hours before his scheduled death, Sydney Carton shows up at the prison with a plan, but not the conspiracy you’d expect.