William Makepeace Thackeray

Novels by Richard Powers and Colson Whitehead, and polemics by Rachel Carson and Mary Wollstonecraft show how ideas and words can change the world

Complex attachments mixing intimacy and deception can decide whole lives, and have inspired novelists from William Thackeray to Elena Ferrante

All the shows, books and even bands to seek out if you need more of a Fleabag-y fix

Yes, it’s yet another version of Thackeray’s novel, and it has its sights set on a modern audience, but Olivia Cooke is an ideal Becky Sharp – and the sumptuous sets are worth tuning in for all on their own

In William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel she’s an amoral social climber – yet in adaptions Becky Sharp is warm and relatable