A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is the secon historical novel by Charles Dickens. The plot centres on the years leading up to the French Revolution and culminates in the Jacobin Reign of Terror. The story touches upon Dr Alexandre Manette's 1757 imprisonment, but the actual story timeline begins in 1775. The first issue of Dickens's literary periodical All the Year Round appearing April 30, 1859, contained the first of thirty-one weekly installments of the novel, which ran until November 26, 1859.