The Way We Live Now (Wordsworth Classics)

This book may have been written more than 130 years ago but so much of it is timeless and even remarkably up to date. It's a huge book, but very engrossing, with a cast of colorful characters. Augustus Melmotte is the focus of the book: mysterious and mysteriously, fabulously wealthy. Or is he? His shadowy background eventually lead to worries that his mansion and his millions may be about to pop like a balloon, and if they do, then what happens to all the sycophantic other Londoners eager to attend his parties, and the young men eager to marry Menmotte's daughter, whose main attraction seems to be her money?

There are several romances in the book that are filled with realistic drama, and almost everyone's life pivots in some way around the fate of the Melmotte family and those closest to him. This was the second time I read this book and the language, story line, brilliant characterization and timeless themes of social climbing, greed and power, and yes, the power of love, make it one of the most superb books I have ever read.