VANITY FAIR is the story of Becky Sharp, one of the most beautiful, willful and resourcefully charming pleasure-seekers in literature. With finishing school credentials and proper connections, Becky begins as a governess, wins the hearts of the moneyed young and old, and in the light of presentations at court and calculated scandals, emerges a full-fledged courtesan on the Continent, living surprisingly well beyond her means.
Thackeray's novel is a moral tapestry of early 19th century English manner, and his persistent theme is the folly of the good-at-heart, the evil of those endowed with grace and wit.