Vanity Fair
- Author William Makepeace Thackeray
- Narrator Frederick Davidson
- Publisher Craig Black
- Publish Date 1 January 2006
- Run Time 29 hours and 52 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Classic fiction.
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What to expect
“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, engaging, and amoral heroines—and her foil, the faithful but naïve Amelia Sedley. Amid the swirl of London’s posh ballrooms and affairs of love and war, their fortunes rise and fall. Thackeray’s subversive, comic attack on the hypocrisy and “dismal roguery” of an avaricious world still resonates, more than 150 years later, with implications for our own times.
Critics Review
“Vanity Fair, though it does not include the whole extent of Thackeray’s genius, is the most vigorous exhibition of its leading characteristics…There is not a person in the book who excites the reader's respect, and not one who fails to excite his interest.”
“The Ur-text of toxic female friendship, and the template for fictive femalenrelationships from Gone With the Windnto Gossip Girl, thenstory of a sweet — but dim — heiress and her ruthlessly amoral social-strivingnbest friend takes our two, deeply different heroines, through the whirlwind ofnNapoleonic War-era England. While Amelia Sedley marries an undeserving cad butncloses her eyes to the truth, Becky Sharp remains flint-eyed: sleeping andnconniving her way to the top of the social heap. The novel’s final image: thentwo women meeting on opposite sides of the titular charity-fair-table, theirndiverging paths through life rendering them ultimately equal, challenges us tonwonder what way is best.”
| Author | William Makepeace Thackeray |
|---|---|
| Narrator | Frederick Davidson |
| Duration | 29 hours and 52 minutes |
| Release Date | |
| ISBN | 9781483088662 |
| Format | Audiobook |
| Publisher | Craig Black |
| Genre | Classic fiction |
| Availability | AU, GB, IE, US |
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