Vanity Fair

Excellent satire of English society in the early 19th century that follows social discrepancies and family clashes of two main characters Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley, two women who could not be more different. Thackeray meant the book to be not only entertaining but also instructive by examining the position of women in an intensely exploitative male world. The novel has inspired several audio, film, and television adaptations.