The Rose and the Ring

According to the author's introduction, this was intended to be put on as a dramatic presentation, or pantomime, at Christmastime, for children. It was indeed published at Christmas (1854), but I'm not at all convinced that the main intended audience was children. This is, technically, a fairy tale,......more

I used to love this book as a child & still found it entertaining, especially the tongue-in-cheek approach to fairy tales.......more

Parts of this ring of a mock-Shakespearean comedy. Being a fairy tale, it is playfully light. Thackeray messes around with the superficiality of appearances, and how eagerly susceptible to them we are. It would be a spoiler to reveal his more explicit moral since he just comes right out and tells it......more

Two kingdoms: Paflagonia and Crim Tartary. Two rulers who have stolen the kingdom from the rightful heir. A magical fairy who is weary of begifting newborns, disgusted with the results of earlier gifts of a magical rose and a magical ring which make the bearer appear the most beautiful of all, now pre......more

This book is Thackeray at his most mischievous — a fairy-tale parody that winks so hard at its readers you can practically hear it. If Barry Lyndon is all swagger and self-delusion, this one is pure comic chaos served with velvet gloves, magic trinkets, and an author who keeps poking fun at every fa......more