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Vanity fair, thackeray’s panoramic, satirical saga of corruption at all levels of english society, was published in 1847 but set during the napoleonic wars. it chronicles the lives of two women who could not be more different: becky sharp, an orphan whose only resources are her vast ambitions, her native wit, and her loose morals; and her schoolmate amelia sedley, a typically naive victorian heroine, the pampered daughter of a wealthy family. becky’s fluctuating fortunes eventually bring her to an affair with amelia’s dissolute husband; when he is killed at waterloo, amelia and her child are left penniless, while becky and her husband rawdon crawley rise in the world, managing to lead a high life in london solely on the basis of their shrewdness. (the chapter entitled “how to live on nothing” is a classic.) thackeray’s subtitle, “a novel without a hero,” is understating the case; his view of humanity in this novel is distinctly bleak and deliberately antiheroic. critics of the time misunderstood the book, decrying it as (among other things) vicious, vile, and odious. but vanity fair has endured as one of the great comic novels of all time, and a landmark in the history of realism in fiction.

In spring 2002 award-winning journalist asne seierstad spent four months living with the bookseller and his family. as seierstad steps back from the page and lets the khans tell their stories, we learn of proposals and marriages, hope and fear, crime and punishment. the result is a unique portrait of a family and a country.

A modern masterpiece,the godfather is a searing portrayal of the 1940s criminal underworld. it is also the intimate story of the corleone family, at once drawn together and ripped apart by its unique position at the core of the american mafia.

Ralph’s insomnia gets worse when ed deepneau gets out of control. ed is obsessed with the notion that derry is becoming the new armageddon and that time is ticking away for the residents. an evil of imaginable propotions has began and ralph has one chance to beat it.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from kessinger publishings legacy reprint series. due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. kessinger publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!