The Luck of Barry Lyndon

The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray is a satirical, picaresque novel that follows Redmond Barry, a roguish Irish antihero. Driven by ambition and a lack of morals, he cons and cheats his way from humble beginnings to English aristocratic status.After fleeing Ireland following a botched duel, Barry is forced to fight in the Seven Years' War, first in the English army and later as a mercenary for the Prussians. Using his wits, card-sharking skills, and charm, he maneuvers his way out of military life and into the opulent, morally bankrupt upper echelons of European society. His ambition culminates in a calculated marriage to the wealthy, widowed Countess of Lyndon.The novel is presented as an outrageous, first-person memoir told by an entirely unreliable narrator. Thackeray uses Barry to satirize the decadence, hypocrisy, and social climbing of 18th-century upper-class European society.