Vanity FairVanity Fair
Score Classic
What it's about
Two young women leave school together in the early 1800s: Amelia Sedley, sweet, rich and good, and Becky Sharp, a penniless, clever, ruthless orphan determined to climb in society. Their lives run through the Napoleonic Wars and the Battle of Waterloo, love and marriage, ruin and success, in a 'novel without a hero'.
Why it's worth reading
It was voted onto the BBC's Big Read. Becky Sharp is one of the great antiheroines, and the satire is still sharp.
You'll love it if you liked
Middlemarch
Pride and Prejudice
Bleak HouseGood to know
It's very long, and the narrator often stops to comment. Amelia can be frustrating.
By the numbers
- Readers12 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics51 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller40 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #158 of the 219 young adult books we rank
- #637 of the 762 classics we rank
- #2211 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
Epic
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Quick answers
Is Vanity Fair worth reading?
Yes. It was voted onto the BBC's Big Read. It ranks #2,211 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 61.8 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Vanity Fair about?
Two young women leave school together in the early 1800s: Amelia Sedley, sweet, rich and good, and Becky Sharp, a penniless, clever, ruthless orphan determined to climb in society. Their lives run through the Napoleonic Wars and the Battle of Waterloo, love and marriage, ruin and success, in a 'novel without a hero'.
How long does it take to read Vanity Fair?
About 23 hours (922 pages), or about 7 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What should I read after Vanity Fair?
If you liked it, try Middlemarch by George Eliot, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen or Bleak House by Charles Dickens.