In his earliest works, written under such pseudonyms as Charles James Yellowplush, Michael Angelo Titmarsh and George Savage Fitz-Boodle, W.M. Thackeray tended towards savagery in his attacks on high society, military prowess, and government.It was “Mr. Michael Angelo Titmarsh” who wrote the infamous “The Paris Sketch Book” a farcical look at France shortly after the time of Napoleon.WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY (1811-1863) was an 19th century Engli...

Published in book form in 1848, "Vanity Fair" is a novel of early 19th-century English society by William Makepeace Thackeray and it is considered by many his masterwork. Thackeray’s previous writings had been published either unsigned or under pseudonyms, but "Vanity Fair" was the first work he published under his own name."Vanity Fair" follows the lives of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley amid their friends and families during and after the Napoleonic Wars.The novel takes it...

“Very likely Miss Binny was right to a great extent. It is the pretty face which creates sympathy in the hearts of men, those wicked rogues. A woman may possess the wisdom and chastity of Minerva, and we give no heed to her, if she has a plain face.”Blonde, beautiful, and penniless Becky Sharpe will do whatever it takes to secure her position in life. Staying in London with naive but kind-hearted Amelia Sedley, the conniving Becky fails to entice Amelia’s wealthy brother and instea...

Thackery was a giant of Victorian literature, creating bestselling novels that rivalled Dickens for popularity and satires that remain as hilarious and original today as when they were first published. This comprehensive eBook aims to reveal the true genius of this master storyteller, featuring the complete works, with beautiful illustrations and special bonus texts. (Version 4)* illustrated with hundreds of images, relating to Thackeray’s life and works* an...

On a broad and colourful canvas, extending from urban and rural England to Waterloo and the continental haunts of exiles, Thackeray gives us one of the greatest social-satirical novels in the language-one of the most entertaining and profound, and, in the person of Becky Sharp, we have one of literature's most resourceful, attractive, and amoral characters. Essentially a commentary on hypocrisy and those ethical principles to which society pays lip-service, Vanity Fair (1847-8) invites us to ...

One of the great Victorian novels by an author at the height of his powers, Vanity Fair follows the fortunes of the calculating, upwardly-mobile Becky Sharp and her gentle, good-hearted friend Amelia Sedley as they leave their boarding school and embark upon their lives in Vanity Fair the social-climbing, wealth-obsessed world of Regency England in the time of the Napoleonic Wars. William Makepeace Thackeray was a British novelist, author, and illustrator. He is known for his satirical wor...

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray is a sweeping satirical masterpiece that offers a brilliant and unflinching portrait of ambition, greed, love, and social climbing in nineteenth-century England. First published in 1847–1848, this classic novel subtitled A Novel Without a Hero presents a vivid panorama of society, exposing its hypocrisies and moral contradictions with wit, irony, and sharp social observation. Set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars and the rigid class stru...

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 £5,000 a year.’ Thackeray’s story is set at the time of the battle of Waterloo, in which the Sedley fort...

On a broad and colourful canvas, extending from urban and rural England to Waterloo and the continental haunts of exiles, Thackeray gives us one of the greatest social-satirical novels in the language-one of the most entertaining and profound, and, in the person of Becky Sharp, we have one of literature's most resourceful, attractive, and amoral characters. Essentially a commentary on hypocrisy and those ethical principles to which society pays lip-service, Vanity Fair (1847-8) invites us to ...

Compiled in one book, the essential collection of books by William Makepeace Thackeray:The Tremendous Adventures of Major GahaganBarry LyndonThe Bedford-Row ConspiracyThe Book of SnobsBurlesquesCatherine: A StoryThe Christmas BooksThe Fatal BootsThe Fitz-Boodle PapersNotes on a Journey from Cornhill to Grand CairoGeorge CruikshankThe History of Henry Esmond, Esq.The History of PendennisThe Hi...

“Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?”Generally considered to be Thackeray’s masterpiece, Vanity Fair is a resplendent social satire that exposes the greed and corruption raging in England during the turmoil of the Napoleonic wars. Subtitled A Novel without a Hero, it traces the changing fortunes of two unforgettable women: the scheming opportunist Becky Sharp—one of literature’s most resourceful, en...

Set against the backdrop of the Waterloo campaign during Napoleon’s Hundred Days, Vanity Fair tells the story of two very different women: Rebecca (Becky) Sharp and Amelia Sedley. Their education complete, Becky and Amelia set out into the world, where their lives follow different paths from a moral, social, and material perspective. Becky’s beauty, wit, and will take her far until her selfish, self-serving behaviour sets her adrift, while Amelia, whose goodness defines her, finds...