Men's Wives

Thackeray turns his satirical gaze on the petty wars of courtship and class in this sharp Victorian novel. At the Bootjack Hotel, a provincial establishment in a genteel London corner, Mr. Crump the former boots has married former actress Miss Budge, and together they've raised daughter Morgiana, a young woman named after the legendary thief-catching heroine of 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.' But the real theft here may be who wins Morgiana's hand and what it costs them. Three suitors circle: the ambitious Captain Howard Walker, with his dubious connections to high society; Mr. Woolsey, a tailor of modest means; and perfumer Mr. Archibald Eglantine. Each offers different promises, different prices. Thackeray, the maestro behind 'Vanity Fair,' dissects the transactional nature of marriage in Victorian England, not with the bludgeoning moralism of lesser novelists, but with a wry, knowing wit that sees both the comedy and the tragedy in people trading love for security. This is social realism before it became earnest, a portrait of ordinary people maneuvering within narrow constraints, rendered with compassion and sharp teeth.