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Scenes From Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" in Today's Fiction - Page 2

© Lynda Ochsner

Though it is clear that Cavanaugh, in his American Revolution story, had A Tale of Two Cities in mind, the author's imitation is not very convincing. The situation somehow does not seem as desperate as Dickens' French revolution scene, leaving the reader to consider that maybe both men could have escaped alive. The characters throughout the book are simply not very likeable. Though grown men past age 30, they behave as immature teenagers (this story might have worked better if the characters were younger, as they are in Cavanaugh's other books). Even to the end, Esau's reason for dying is not any great love for his brother, but the idea that his brother will be able to continue the family line and have a male son (neither has any children yet) along with a vague idea of going to heaven for doing a good deed. Furthermore, unlike Sydney Carton and Angela Elwell Hunt's character Daniel, Esau does have a "worthy" and "decent" life, with people who do care about him, including a close girlfriend with whom marriage is very possible.

Angela Elwell Hunt, on the other hand, shows great literary skill in how she borrows material from a classic story yet creates a variation on the original idea. Her scene fits the story and does justice to the original idea.

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