Vanity Fair
Subtitled ‘A Novel without a Hero,’ Thackeray’s sprawling masterpiece follows the clever, ruthless, and utterly charming Becky Sharp as she claws her way up through Regency England’s high society, contrasted with her gentle, passive friend Amelia Sedley. Against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars and the Battle of Waterloo, Thackeray paints a vast, satirical panorama of ambition, vanity, money, and social climbing, sparing no one his ironic wit. Becky Sharp remains one of literature’s greatest anti-heroines—amoral, brilliant, and irresistible. Sharp, funny, and unsparing in its view of human folly, Vanity Fair is a towering achievement of the Victorian novel and a merciless mirror of society.
About the Author
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) was an English novelist celebrated for his satirical portraits of society. Vanity Fair, his masterpiece, is one of the great novels of the nineteenth century.
See all books by William Makepeace Thackeray →
Listen to Vanity Fair Audiobook Free
Listen to Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray free online. The full audiobook (32 hr 21 min, 67 chapters, read by volunteer narrators) streams free on this page.
Vanity Fair (1848) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chiswick Mall | 17:37 | |
| 2 | In Which Miss Sharp and Miss Sedley Prepare to Open the Campaign | 22:53 | |
| 3 | Rebecca is in Presence of the Enemy | 18:00 | |
| 4 | The Green Silk Purse | 32:03 | |
| 5 | Dobbin of Ours | 26:56 | |
| 6 | Vauxhall | 30:46 | |
| 7 | Crawley of Queen’s Crawley | 19:19 | |
| 8 | Private and Confidential | 30:09 | |
| 9 | Family Portraits | 22:38 | |
| 10 | Miss Sharp Begins To Make Friends | 18:57 | |
| 11 | Arcadian Simplicity | 40:20 | |
| 12 | Quite a Sentimental Chapter | 24:08 | |
| 13 | Sentimental and Otherwise | 29:03 | |
| 14 | Miss Crawley at Home | 45:01 | |
| 15 | In Which Rebecca’s Husband Appears for a Short Time | 21:32 | |
| 16 | The Letter on the Pincushion | 11:31 | |
| 17 | How Captain Dobbin Bought a Piano | 20:43 | |
| 18 | Who Played on the Piano Captain Dobbin Bought | 32:03 | |
| 19 | Miss Crawley at Nurse | 27:22 | |
| 20 | In Which Captain Dobbin Acts as the Messenger of Hymen | 25:49 | |
| 21 | A Quarrel About an Heiress | 26:23 | |
| 22 | A Marriage and Part of a Honeymoon | 24:55 | |
| 23 | Captain Dobbin Proceeds on His Canvass | 17:25 | |
| 24 | In Which Mr. Osborne Takes Down the Family Bible | 36:24 | |
| 25 | In Which All the Principal Personages Think Fit to Leave Brighton | 52:14 | |
| 26 | Between London and Chatham | 21:26 | |
| 27 | In Which Amelia Joins Her Regiment | 17:36 | |
| 28 | In Which Amelia Invades the Low Countries | 25:23 | |
| 29 | Brussels | 38:50 | |
| 30 | The Girl I Left Behind Me | 27:09 | |
| 31 | In Which Jos Sedley Takes Care of His Sister | 34:22 | |
| 32 | In Which Jos Takes Flight, and the War Is Brought to a Close | 14:03 | |
| 33 | In Which Miss Crawley’s Relations Are Very Anxious About Her | 22:00 | |
| 34 | James Crawley’s Pipe is Put Out | 36:29 | |
| 35 | Widow and Mother | 33:45 | |
| 36 | How to Live Well on Nothing a Year | 24:58 | |
| 37 | The Subject Continued | 48:33 | |
| 38 | A Family in a Very Small Way | 34:47 | |
| 39 | A Cynical Chapter | 21:47 | |
| 40 | In Which Becky Is Recognized by the Family | 22:18 | |
| 41 | In Which Becky Revisits the Halls of Her Ancestors | 30:01 | |
| 42 | Which Treats of the Osborne Family | 20:06 | |
| 43 | In Which the Reader has to Double the Cape | 26:10 | |
| 44 | A Round-about Chapter between London and Hampshire | 28:18 | |
| 45 | Between Hampshire and London | 27:22 | |
| 46 | Struggles and Trials | 24:20 | |
| 47 | Gaunt House | 26:26 | |
| 48 | In Which the Reader Is Introduced to the Very Best of Company | 30:49 | |
| 49 | In Which we Enjoy Three Courses and a Desert | 19:50 | |
| 50 | Contains a Vulgar Incident | 25:31 | |
| 51 | In Which a Charade Is Acted Which May or May Not Puzzle the Reader | 59:00 | |
| 52 | In Which Lord Steyne Shows Himself In A Most Amiable Light | 30:42 | |
| 53 | A Rescue And A Catastrophe | 27:43 | |
| 54 | Sunday After the Battle | 29:39 | |
| 55 | In Which the Same Subject is Pursued | 39:41 | |
| 56 | Georgy is Made a Gentleman | 29:52 | |
| 57 | Eothen | 20:45 | |
| 58 | Our Friend the Major | 28:18 | |
| 59 | The Old Piano | 27:35 | |
| 60 | Returns to the Genteel World | 15:51 | |
| 61 | In Which Two Lights Are Put Out | 37:47 | |
| 62 | Am Rhein | 27:56 | |
| 63 | In Which We Meet An Old Acquaintance | 33:22 | |
| 64 | A Vagabond Chapter | 49:08 | |
| 65 | Full of Business and Pleasure | 23:08 | |
| 66 | Amantium Irae | 44:43 | |
| 67 | Which Contains Births, Marriages, and Deaths | 58:52 |
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