It has been more than ten years since I've read this and in truth I cam to re-reading it in the strangest way - it was referenced in a YA novel and I was reading that and I remembered how much I had loved this book and decided it was past time I read it again and saw if it was as good as I remembered. 
 As it was - it was every bit as good as my teenage memories led me to believe and if anything it just got more tragic as I aged. I am the first to admit that I find Dickens extremely hit and miss as an author, which I know is bordering on blasphemous in some circles, but it is really true for me. His prose is often too flowery, his characters too unsympathetic and the novels too bleak to warrant the attention they require. This, based on the subject, should be in that category yet somehow it rises above the potential traps. We have a dark subject, a truly tragic hero, a rather unsympathetic and/or unlucky counter hero who gets bailed out, along with a rather bland heroine yet despite all that the book and the story rises above it all. The opening and closing lines are two of the most perfect lines in literature and everything in between just works. 
 There are faults, yet somehow they don't really detract from the story. Maybe I'm biased, but even some of the irritating moments (Lucie is just one of those characters you roll your eyes at and deep down you want to know how she can justify sending another man to his death when her husband had knowingly endangered his own life in the first place) yet I find myself willing to overlook it. There are also parts of the book that are driven by plot other than characterisation and that jars a little. When Charles abandons his wife and child to go on a suicide mission I know we are supposed to be sympathetic of his goodness, but you just want to strangle him for his martyr complex and other moments that in a lesser story I would have judged more harshly. As it was, I overlook the flaws and concentrate on the good stuff and the good stuff is very, very good. 
 This is a book I would recommend to anyone, and even if Dickens intimidates you, give it a try. It is a beautiful book with a wonderful story and one of those characters you will grow to love and will stay with you long after you finish.