The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp: ‘A razor-sharp retelling of Vanity Fair’ Louise O’Neill

Written by Sarra Manning

Narrated by Aysha Kala

A hilarious contemporary retelling of the classic society novel, VANITY FAIR, featuring the irrepressible Becky Sharp

Beautiful, brilliant, ruthless – nothing can stop Becky Sharp.

Becky Sharp has big dreams and no connections. Determined to swap the gutters of Soho for the glamorous, exclusive world behind the velvet rope, Becky will do anything to achieve fame, riches and status.

Whether it’s seducing society’s most eligible bachelors, or befriending silly debutantes and rich old ladies, Becky Sharp is destined for great things. Because it might be tough at the top but it’s worse at the bottom.

From London to Paris and beyond, Becky Sharp is going places – so get the hell out of her way…

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Sep 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9780008307547

Sarra Manning

Sarra Manning is an author and journalist. Her novels include Unsticky, You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me and her latest The House Of Secrets. Sarra has written both adult and YA novels and has contributed to The Guardian, ELLE, Grazia, Stylist, Fabulous, Stella, You Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar and is currently the Literary Editor of Red magazine. Sarra lives in London. Twitter: @sarramanningInstagram: @sarra_manning

Reviews for The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp

[allandanybooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First off, I haven’t read the original Vanity Fair so I can’t compare these two books.
When it comes to this book, I can honestly say I liked the book. I both admire and hate Becky Sharp.
The story itself kind of pulls you in and goes up and down and up and down until the end. The plot is interesting and I feel all kinds of emotions and I absolutely love that Amelia got a happy ending and that George Wiley got what he deserved.
All in all it was a good book that made me feel a thousand emotions.

* ARC received from the publisher via Netgalley

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Between the recent obnoxious adaptation on ITV and this update of Thackeray's novel, Vanity Fair has almost killed off my love of the classics. I also tried reading the original text again, but life's just too short.Sarra Manning has done a fair job of reworking Thackeray's doorstop into a chick lit holiday read, apart from the final few chapters. I think she must have reached the point where George flirts with Becky under Amelia's nose and thought, 'Flaming hell, I'm not even halfway through!', before skipping merrily ahead to the reunion of all the characters in Pumpernickel. Not that I blame her. Where she does stick to the plot, the story works well. All the names remain the same, apart from oily MP George Osborne who necessarily becomes George Wylie, presumably to avoid a lawsuit, but there are some interesting modern twists. Becky becomes a social media celebrity after losing out to Amelia on Big Brother, and the Crawleys are now an acting dynasty, with Aunt Matilda turning into a knock off of Dame Maggie Smith. Slimy George, as mentioned, is a politician, while faithful Dobbin remains in the army. Jos was the best reboot of the original character, making millions from protein balls in LA! I was a little disappointed that George didn't meet the same fate, but I suppose Emmy coming independently to her senses is both swifter and more satisfying for modern readers (the smug actress playing her in the ITV adaptation would no doubt approve). Becky remains amoral and amusing, but the message about how she came from nothing and has only herself to rely on was a little heavy-handed - what worked with Thackeray took me too much out of the story in this case.I'm not sure how readers who haven't read the original novel will take Becky - maybe that's what all the 'woe is she!' reminders are about, and the bizarre choice to turn her into a charity sponsor and a UN ambassador! - but there's enough humour and social sniping to appeal to everyone.