William Makepeace Thackeray, the great author of Vanity Fair and The Luck of Barry Lyndon was born in India in 1811. At age 5 his father died and his mother sent him back to England. His education was of the best but he himself seemed unable to apply his talents to a rigorous work ethic. After a few years of marriage his wife began to suffer from depression and over the years became detached from reality. He himself suffered from ill health later in his life and the one pursuit that kept him moving forward was that of writing and in his life time he was placed second only to Dickens. High praise indeed.