Madame Bovary is the story of a beautiful young woman who marries a luckless country doctor. She tries to escape the narrow confines of her life through a series of passionate affairs, hoping to find in other men the romantic ideal she always dreamed about. Flaubert's daring description of adultery and sinfulness caused a national scandal when it was first published, and this masterpiece of realist literature has lost none of its impact today.

Translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling.