From AudioFile
The incomparable Miriam Margolyes applies her story-telling and histrionic gifts to this classic satire of two young English women, one bad but clever and the other good but stupid, who come to no good during the Napoleonic Wars. The abridgers have cut a bit too much at the expense of the characterizations. Although sounding somewhat forced, Margolyes, as always, gives an excellent performance. Y.R. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Book News, Inc.
The second of a projected series of all Thackeray's works reconstructing the pre-editorial versions. Of particular note is the rhetorical, rather than strictly syntactic, punctuation in the original. The restored text is presented uninterrupted for the convenience of readers and literary critics. The back matter includes historical and textual introduction, comments on the illustrations (Thackeray's own) and exhaustive lists of authorial and editorial changes. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


Review
"I do not say there is no character as well drawn in Shakespeare [as D'Artagnan]. I do say there is none that I love so wholly."
--Robert Louis Stevenson

"The lasting and universal popularity of The Three Musketeers shows that Dumas, by artlessly expressing his own nature in the persons of his heroes, was responding to that craving for action, strength and generosity which is a fact in all periods and all places."
--Andreé Maurois


From the Hardcover edition.


Book Description
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 social ladder. Her sentimental companion Amelia, however, longs for caddish soldier George. As the two heroines make their way through the tawdry glamour of English society in the early 1800s, battles—military and domestic—are fought, fortunes made and lost. The one steadfast and honorable figure in this corrupt world is Dobbin, devoted to Amelia, bringing pathos and depth to William Thackeray’s gloriously satirical epic of love and social adventure.


Download Description
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 consider which is to blame: the opportunist or the society that makes opportunism necessary.


From the Publisher
Vanity Fair is a story of two heroines--one humber, the other scheming and social climbing--who meet inboarding school and embark on markedly different lives. Amid the swirl of London's posh ballrooms and affairs of love and war, their fortunes rise and fall. Through it all, Thackeray lampoons the shallow values of his society, reserving the most pointed barbs for the upper crust. What results is a prescient look at the dogged pursuit of wealth and status--and the need for humility.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Thus asks Thackeray in his gloriously entertaining saga, as a vibrant cast of characters scheme and scramble for life's prizes on the crowded stage of Vanity Fair. And no one is better equipped in the struggle for wealth and worldly success than Becky Sharp, Thackeray's supreme creation. Brilliant, alluring and ruthless, she defies her poverty-stricken background to clamber up the social ladder, while her sentimental companion Amelia 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 are made and lost. And amid the fast-paced action stands Dobbin with his unrequited love for Amelia. A true gentleman in a corrupt world, he brings pathos and depth to Thackeray's epic tale of love and social adventure. Vanity Fair is a truly great novel: one that, in John Carey's words, 'challenges comparison with Tolstoy's War and Peace'.

SYNOPSIS