No one is better equipped in the struggle for wealth and worldly success than the alluring and ruthless Becky Sharp, who defies her impoverished background to clamber up the social ladder. Her sentimental companion Amelia, however, longs for caddish soldier George. As the two heroines make their way through the tawdry glamour of English society in the early 1800s, battlesmilitary and domesticare fought, fortunes made and lost. The one steadfast and honorable figure in this corrupt world is...

ContentsThe Two DroversBy Sir Walter ScottMr. DeuceaceBy W. M. ThackerayThe BrothersEdward Bulmer LyttonDoctor Manette's ManuscriptBy Charles DickensThe Caldron of OilBy Wilkie CollinsThe Burial of the TitheBy Samuel LoverThe Knightsbridge MysteryBy Charles ReadeThe Courting of Dinah ShaddBy Rudyard KiplingThe Sire De Maletroit's DoorBy R. L. StevensonThe Se...

MY DEAR - - , - It is no easy task in this world to distinguish between what is great in it, and what is mean; and many and many is the puzzle that I have had in reading History (or the works of fiction which go by that name), to know whether I should laud up to the skies, and endeavor, to the best of my small capabilities, to imitate the remarkable character about whom I was reading, or whether I should fling aside the book and the hero of it, as things altogether base, unworthy, laughabl...

Vanity Fair in half the timeBecky Sharp is the most alluring yet ruthless heroine ever to climb the social ladder. From sordid bohemian beginnings she moves upwards through Regency society, betraying her husband, her friend Amelia and all who cross her in her determination to acquire power.In post-war London after Waterloo, Becky continues her manipulative schemes but finds herself thwarted by personal and social forces.

This novels depicts the fortunes of the descendants of Henry Esmond and the once beautiful Beatrix, with a brilliant picture of eighteenth-century London society at the time of the American War of Independence.

Set in the reign of Queen Anne, this novel follows the troubled progress of Henry Esmond Esq, a gentleman and an officer in Marlborough's army. Enamoured of the Jacobite Lady Castlewood and her wayward daughter Beatrix, he distinguishes himself in Marlborough's campaigns against Louis XIV. Esmond comes to grief in an attempt to depose George I in favour of the Old Pretender. He wrestles with an allegiance to the old Tory-Catholic England until, disillusioned, he comes to terms with the whi...

Vanity Fair is the story of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley, who have just completed their studies at Miss Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies and are beginning to embark upon the world. The simple-minded nature of Amelia, who comes from a wealthy family, is contrasted with the strong-willed nature of Becky, who will stop at nothing to climb the social ranks of Victorian English society.

Set in the second half of the eighteenth century, Barry Lyndon is the fictional autobiography of an adventurer and rogue. Born into the petty Irish gentry, and outmanoeuvred in his first love-affair, a ruined Barry volunteers for the British army. After seeing service in Germany he deserts and, after a brief spell as a spy, pursues the career of a gambler in the dissolute clubs and courts of Europe. In a determined effort to enter fashionable society he marries a titled heiress but is fina...

The author plunders his own past to create the character of Arthur Pendennis and the world in which he lives: from miserable schoolboy to striving journalist, from carefree Oxbridge to the high (and low) life of London. The result is a panoramic blend of people, action and background. The true ebb and flow of life is caught and the credibility of Pen, his worldly uncle, the Major, and many of the other characters, extends far beyond the pages of the novel. Pendennis is a rich portrait of E...

Vanity Fair, with its rich cast of characters, takes place on the snakes-and-ladders board of life. Amelia Sedley, daughter of a wealthy merchant, has a loving mother to supervise her courtship. Becky Sharp, an orphan, has to use her wit, charm, and resourcefulness to escape from her destiny as a governess. This she does ruthlessly, musing’I think I could become a good woman, if I had £5000 a year.’ Thackeray’s story is set at the time of the battle of Waterloo, in which the Sedley fortune...

BBC radio dramatisations of classic novels centred around engaging anti-heroes who dominate high societyAmbitious. Ruthless. Unprincipled. With their blurred morals and relatable imperfections, it’s no wonder we find anti-heroes so appealing and fascinating. Featuring a mixture of male and female anti-heroes across England, Scotland, France and New York, these fantastic adaptations of five of the best-known and best-loved classics of literature follow some of these...

Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence is set against an exclusive society background in which she reveals how Newland Archer is often the victim of, rather than the key player in, the events. The plot is constructed on a pattern of ironic misunderstandings: for example, Newland is unaware that Ellen's decision not to sue for divorce was for his and May's sake rather than to conceal her past. Furthermore, Newland remains largely blind to the manipulations of a wife he persists in seeing as i...