Book Description
Becky Sharp is determined. Determined to get away from her dead-end hometown, determined to make a name for herself and determined to achieve success. And she doesn’t care how many lives she ruins in the process.
In 90s tabloid-era London, Becky schemes her way into high society, where millionaires and aristocrats trade favours and fortunes. Before long, she is scaling the ranks at the Mercury newspaper with scoop after scoop, breaking the biggest stories of the decade.
Relentlessly ambitious, Becky never looks back on her way to the top. But what goes up must come down, and Becky’s fall from grace is as shocking as the final scandal she finds herself tangled up in…
My Thoughts
Well, thank you so much to Gaby at Picador Books for sending me a gorgeous hardback copy of Becky. Bypassing the TBR Shelf I picked this one up straight away and absolutely loved it. I flew through it’s 418 pages, genuinely struggling to put this book down. I hadn’t realised it was a retelling of Vanity Fair and not having read that book I can’t comment or compare. But this is a rags to riches tale as our protagonist fabricates her past to secure employment with the media mogul family – the Crawleys. First as their nanny, but moving into the newspaper world and then clawing her way to the top.
Moving among affluent, privately educated media types, Becky is a chameleon, adapting herself to flawlessly fit in with those around her, in society and in the then men’s world of media in the 1990s.
Told in a then and now format, the book moves between Becky’s childhood, growing up poor, the only child of her single mother. Orphaned shortly before her 18, she comes of age by leaving her impoverished past and moving to the city. The book then follows her life in London, her friends, boyfriends and her career. Driven and ruthless, determined to escape her past and succeed in her chosen career.
An exciting story of wealth and the troubled relationship with the media. A scoop on the Princess, rubbing shoulder with celebrities, anyone of whom could be the next news story and then a missing child followed by a scandal, revenge and more. Nothing short of fabulous, page turning, absorbing fiction which truthfully has left me with a bit of a book hangover – wondering what to read next.
Out today, I really recommend this book, think you should head out now to pick up your copy in fact. You’re welcome!
Thanks as always for reading.
About the Author
Sarah May’s previous novels include The Nudist Colony (shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and winner of the Amazon Bursary), Spanish City (shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award), The Internationals (longlisted for the Women’s Prize) and bestselling The Rise and Fall of the Queen of Suburbia. She also teaches creative writing at Faber Academy and has launched many brilliant voices in fiction. Sara lives in Sussex and, when she isn’t writing and teaching, works with her partner taking Shakespeare to young people and places the Bard hasn’t been before.
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