William Makepeace Thackeray, this restless Victorian, as his biographers depict him, is one of the most important British writers of all time. After a long career in journalism and publishing novels in serialized form, in 1848 he presents "Vanity Fair," which is considered his masterpiece.

The panoramic vastness and complexity of the composition, the absolute control of the author over his material, and the unbroken blend of satire with humanity make "Vanity Fair" perhaps the best book of its time.

The story is set in the decades of 1810 and 1820, with the landmark being the Battle of Waterloo. Its central theme is the life of two women, Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley, as different as day and night. The latter is sweet, simple, virtuous, unbearably dull, unimaginative, weak-willed, and timid. The former is cunning, ruthless, a liar, a hypocrite, charming, fascinating, and charismatic. Around them, a multitude of equally contradictory characters, and thus true.

Thackeray satirizes high society, presenting Becky Sharp exploiting its emptiness and corruption, but at the same time critically judging the path of his heroine, without ever resorting to tedious moral lessons and moralizing; thus maintaining a wonderful balance of dual moral reproach.

But what stands out in Thackeray is his decisive humor, sharp, elegant, bitter, when he challenges established notions or records the distribution of roles, the fears, vanity, and even the panic of an entire society.