Vanity Fair is a satirical masterpiece, a sweeping panorama of early 19th-century English life. Thackeray's much-celebrated novel has been dramatized for television, radio, and most recently for film starring Reese Witherspoon and Romola Garai. It follows the fortunes of the virtuous Amelia Sedley and the infamous Becky Sharp. Becky is one of literature's most important and controversial female characters; born into the lower classes, she must rely on her wit, guile, and sexuality to master Regency society. And neither friendship nor trust can abate Becky's desire to climb London's social ladder and satisfy her own ends.