I’d like to thank Jaime Frost at Harper Collins for sending me a surprise copy of The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp by Sarra Manning in return for an honest review.

The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp is published by Harper Collins and is available for purchase through the links here.

The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp

An 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…

My Review of The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp

The final of Big Brother is coming to an end and life is about to change dramatically for Becky Sharp.

I have a couple of confessions. Firstly, I have never been able to read Vanity Fair as I found Becky Sharp so intensely irritating I never finished it so that I am unable to make any comparisons with Thackery’s narrative and secondly I thought the first chapter to The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp was going to lead to a contrived retelling of someone else’s ideas. I was wrong. I think I got off on the wrong reader foot because I loathe Big Brother but as soon as that episode was completed I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s vicious, witty and very very clever.

Becky Sharp is an absolute triumph. Sarra Manning made me hate her and admire her in equal measure. I completely understood her driving force and empathised with it whilst abhorring her methodology so that I found her utterly fascinating. Becky Sharp epitomises all that is wrong in modern society in a glorious, vituperative package that I couldn’t help but admire.

All the characters work so well together. And it is the brilliant manipulation by Becky that orchestrates the entire novel incredibly effectively. I felt sorry for those in her thrall and quite gratified if any of them managed to outwit her, however briefly.

I loved the modern setting of this story. Our reliance on the superficiality of social media and branding is brilliantly handled and woven throughout, making the events absolutely believable.

So, having begun The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp with sceptical trepidation, I found I was enormously entertained by Sarra Manning’s faultless, effervescent style and lively writing so that I thoroughly enjoyed Becky’s adventures. I’d love to know what she gets up to next in any sequel as I’m sure she hasn’t finished her adventures yet!

About Sarra Manning

Sarra Manning is an author and journalist. Her novels include Unsticky, You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me and 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.

You can find Sarra on Instagram or Facebook and follow her on Twitter @sarramanning for more information.