Free public-domain audiobook
Listen to A Tale of Two Cities as a free audiobook on iPhone
You can listen to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens as a free audiobook on your iPhone. Because the book is in the public domain, you can download a free EPUB edition and have it read aloud with natural on-device voices - privately, offline, and without buying an audiobook.
Set in London and a Paris sliding into revolution, Dickens braids a doctor freed from the Bastille, the daughter who saves him, and a wasted lawyer who finds one redeeming act. It opens with the most famous sentence in English fiction and ends with one nearly as famous. The plotting is tight for Dickens, which helps it hold up by ear.
Why A Tale of Two Cities is free to listen to
A Tale of Two Cities appeared in 1859 and is fully public domain. Free, well-proofed EPUB editions are readily available.
Length: A medium-length novel in three books; a week of evening listening.
How to listen to A Tale of Two Cities on iPhone
- Download a free public-domain EPUB of A Tale of Two Cities (Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks both offer one).
- Move the EPUB to your iPhone via AirDrop, iCloud Drive, email, or a direct download into Files.
- Open the EPUB in a reader app that reads text aloud, or use Apple's built-in Speak Screen to hear the open page.
- Choose a voice and press play. A reader that generates the voice on the device works offline, with nothing uploaded.
Questions & answers
Is A Tale of Two Cities a good Dickens novel to start with?
A Tale of Two Cities is one of the most approachable Dickens novels for new listeners because it is shorter and more tightly plotted than his sprawling comedies. The cast is smaller and the revolutionary stakes keep the story moving. Its famous opening and closing lines are worth listening for in full.
Do I need to know French history to follow it?
A Tale of Two Cities does not require prior knowledge of the French Revolution - Dickens supplies the context you need as the story unfolds. Knowing only that pre-revolutionary France was deeply unequal is enough. The novel is about a handful of people caught in those events, not a history lecture.