Published in book form in 1848, &quot;Vanity Fair&quot; is a novel of early 19th-century English society by William Makepeace Thackeray and it is considered by many his&nbsp;masterwork.&nbsp;Thackeray&rsquo;s previous writings had been published either unsigned or under pseudonyms, but &quot;Vanity Fair&quot; was the first work he published under his own name.<br /><br />&quot;Vanity Fair&quot; follows the lives of&nbsp;Becky Sharp&nbsp;and Amelia Sedley amid their friends and families during and after the&nbsp;Napoleonic Wars.<br /><br />The novel takes its title from the place designated as the centre of human corruption in John Bunyan&rsquo;s 17th-century allegory &quot;Pilgrim&rsquo;s Progress&quot;. The book is a densely populated multilayered panorama of manners and human frailties; subtitled <i>A Novel Without a Hero</i>, &quot;Vanity Fair&quot; metaphorically represents the human condition.&nbsp;Its characters are virtually lacking in positive qualities and are obsessed with social climbing and the acquisition of wealth.<br />&nbsp;