Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair is William Makepeace Thackeray’s satirical novel, subtitled “A Novel without a Hero.” It contrasts the lives of two women—ambitious, cunning Becky Sharp and gentle Amelia Sedley—to expose the hypocrisy, snobbery, and moral decay of early 19th-century British high society. With sharp wit and irony, Thackeray critiques the corrupting power of wealth and social status, offering a sweeping, unflinching portrait of an era obsessed with vanity and ambition.