Vanity Fair

?Vanitas Vanitatum! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?? No one is better e quipped in the struggle for wealth and worldly success than the alluring and ruthless Becky Sharp, who defies her impoverished backg round to clamber up the class ladder. Her sentimental companion Amelia, however, longs only for caddish soldier George. As the two h eroines make their way through the tawdry glamour of Regency society, battles ? military and domestic ? are fought, fortunes made an d lost. The one steadfast and honourable figure in this corrupt world is Dobbin with his devotion to Amelia, bringing pathos and dep th to Thackeray`s gloriously satirical epic of love and social adventure.

• author: William Makepeace Thackeray