Vanity Fair

Step into the "Fair" where everyone is striving for what is not worth having in this panoramic satire of English society. The novel traces the parallel lives of the passive Amelia Sedley and the ruthless, brilliant Becky Sharp as they navigate marriage, war, and financial ruin. Thackeray adopts the persona of a puppet master, pulling the strings of his characters to reveal the vanity and hypocrisy underlying their actions. It is a cynical, sprawling, and deeply entertaining masterpiece that declares itself a "novel without a hero."