How many words are in A Tale of Two Cities?
by Charles Dickens · 1859 · Literary Fiction
135,420
Word count
9 hr 29 min
Reading time
542
Est. pages
1859
Published
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is approximately 135,420 wordslong. At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, that's about 9 hr 29 min of reading spread across several sittings. First published in 1859, it sits in the Literary Fiction category.
Typical literary fiction novels run 70,000–100,000 words, with a sweet spot around 80,000–90,000. At 135,420 words, A Tale of Two Cities runs longer than the typical range, in epic territory.
Source: Word count from Project Gutenberg plain text edition (public domain) · referenceVerified 2026-06-19
Literary Fiction novels of similar length
| Title | Author | Word count |
|---|---|---|
| Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen | 122,189 |
| The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain | 109,571 |
| Beloved | Toni Morrison | 109,211 |
| Wuthering Heights | Emily Brontë | 107,945 |
| The Grapes of Wrath | John Steinbeck | 169,481 |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | 100,388 |