READING TIME · CHARLES DICKENS · 1859
How long does it take to read A Tale of Two Cities?
At an average reading speed, about 8 hours 40 minutes. A Tale of Two Cities is 135,709 words long, in 45 chapters in three books.
- WORDS
- 135,709
- CHAPTERS
- 45
- READING LEVEL
- About grade 7 (Flesch–Kincaid)
Reading time at different speeds
| Reader | Speed | Whole book |
|---|---|---|
| Unhurried | 200 words a minute | 11 h 20 min |
| Average adult reader | 260 words a minute | 8 h 40 min |
| Quick reader | 320 words a minute | 7 h 5 min |
To finish it at a steady pace:
- 20 minutes a day: about 27 days
- 30 minutes a day: about 18 days
- 60 minutes a day: about 9 days
How many chapters are in A Tale of Two Cities?
A Tale of Two Cities has 45 chapters. The longest is Book 3, Chapter 10 (5,840 words, 22 min); the shortest is Book 1, Chapter 1 (1,003 words, 4 min). The average chapter takes 12 min.
Reading times below are at 260 words a minute.
| Chapter | Words | Reading time | Practice in Parlor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | 1,003 | 4 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 2 | 2,018 | 8 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 3 | 1,612 | 6 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 4 | 4,386 | 17 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 5 | 4,150 | 16 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 6 | 4,134 | 16 min | Check it → |
| Chapter | Words | Reading time | Practice in Parlor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | 2,395 | 9 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 2 | 2,383 | 9 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 3 | 4,852 | 19 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 4 | 2,240 | 9 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 5 | 2,133 | 8 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 6 | 4,561 | 18 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 7 | 3,314 | 13 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 8 | 1,842 | 7 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 9 | 4,068 | 16 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 10 | 2,948 | 11 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 11 | 1,393 | 5 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 12 | 2,560 | 10 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 13 | 1,832 | 7 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 14 | 3,874 | 15 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 15 | 4,207 | 16 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 16 | 3,849 | 15 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 17 | 1,898 | 7 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 18 | 2,408 | 9 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 19 | 2,772 | 11 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 20 | 1,346 | 5 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 21 | 4,242 | 16 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 22 | 2,031 | 8 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 23 | 2,622 | 10 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 24 | 4,420 | 17 min | Check it → |
| Chapter | Words | Reading time | Practice in Parlor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | 4,223 | 16 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 2 | 2,480 | 10 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 3 | 1,723 | 7 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 4 | 2,135 | 8 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 5 | 2,274 | 9 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 6 | 2,492 | 10 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 7 | 1,849 | 7 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 8 | 4,661 | 18 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 9 | 4,633 | 18 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 10 | 5,840 | 22 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 11 | 1,455 | 6 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 12 | 3,193 | 12 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 13 | 4,397 | 17 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 14 | 4,635 | 18 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 15 | 2,226 | 9 min | Check it → |
READING IT FOR CLASS?
Knowing how long it takes is one thing. Understanding it is another.
Parlor Study is a reading comprehension companion. Read A Tale of Two Cities one chapter at a time, then make sure you understood it.
- Read a chapter. The full Project Gutenberg text, with highlights, notes and read-aloud.
- Explain it in your own words. Challenge me asks about the main idea, what the text suggests without saying, and the turn the chapter hinges on, then checks your answer against the text.
- Talk it through, then come back. Discuss stays within the chapters you have reached, so it won’t give away what comes next, and Revisit brings your ideas back later.
Parlor Study is a web preview for ages 13 and up, available by invitation. Request an invitation. AI feedback can make mistakes; check it against the text.
How these numbers were worked out
Words are counted in A Tale of Two Cities: A Story of the French Revolution, Project Gutenberg eBook #98, the edition Parlor opens, divided into chapters exactly as Parlor shows them. Project Gutenberg’s licence and notes are left out. Other editions may differ slightly.
Reading speeds follow Marc Brysbaert’s review of 190 studies, which found that adults read English silently at about 260 words a minute for fiction and 238 for non-fiction (Journal of Memory and Language, 2019). Older and more difficult books often take longer than their word count suggests.
The reading level is the Flesch–Kincaid grade, worked out from average sentence length (16.5 words) and word length. It measures how long the sentences and words are, not how hard the ideas are.
Similar length
- Far from the Madding Crowd 8 h 50 min
- The House of Mirth 8 h 20 min
- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas 9 h 5 min
- Lord Jim 8 h 15 min
Also by Charles Dickens
- A Christmas Carol 1 h 50 min
- Great Expectations 11 h 55 min
- Oliver Twist 10 h 5 min