Vanity Fair
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 class ladder. Her sentimental companion Amelia, however, longs only for caddish soldier George. As the two heroines make their way through the tawdry glamour of Regency society, battles - military and domestic - are fought, fortunes made and lost. The one steadfast and honourable figure in this corrupt world is Dobbin with his devotion to Amelia, bringing pathos and depth to Thackeray's gloriously satirical epic of love and social adventure.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Vanity Fair
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
When Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley leave Miss Pinkerton's academy on Chiswick Mall in 1813, the orphan Becky is bound for a governess job in Hampshire and the Sedley heiress for marriage to George Osborne.
Around 700 to 900 pages depending on the edition. Thackeray serialized the novel in 19 monthly installments in 1847 and 1848.
Yes, multiple times. Notable versions include the 2004 Reese Witherspoon film and the 2018 ITV/Amazon miniseries with Olivia Cooke as Becky Sharp.
Victorian novels run long and dense, and Thackeray uses many digressions and direct addresses to the reader. Most modern readers find Becky's chapters propulsive enough to carry through.
Vanity Fair is 699 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Vanity Fair takes most readers 10 to 15 hours to finish.
Vanity Fair is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
Vanity Fair is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.