Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert)
[Easton Press]

Madame Bovary tells the story of Emma Bovary a woman trapped in a provincial marriage who seeks escape through romantic fantasies material indulgence and illicit affairs. Her yearning for passion and beauty leads to financial ruin emotional turmoil and ultimately tragedy. Flaubert’s precise prose and keen psychological insight create a powerful critique of social expectations desire and the dangers of idealism unchecked by reality.

Madame Bovary follows Emma Bovary, a provincial doctor's wife who longs for romance, luxury, and excitement beyond the confines of her small town and marriage. Seeking fulfillment in affairs and extravagant spending, she becomes increasingly trapped in debt and disillusionment. Flaubert's precise, impersonal prose and unsparing portrayal of her illusions and the society around her make the novel a landmark of realist fiction and a study of desire and disappointment.