Now a major BBC adaptation

Flaubert's story of the beautiful Madame Bovary scandalized Paris when first published in 1857. Seen as flagrantly amoral, Flaubert was prosecuted and, after a sensational trial, acquitted. Today, however, his novel is recognized as a landmark in European literature.

Emma Rouault leaves her father to marry Charles Bovary, an insignificant local doctor. to live among the bourgeoisie of 'Yonville'. An ardent devourer of sentimental novels, Emma fills her head with fantastic notions of gallantry and high romance. which she soon finds lacking in her dull husband. Disillusioned and frustrated, she finds solace in d tempestuous love affair with the local Squire, naively imagining that he will fulfil her desires. Torn between her licentiousness and piety, her voracious passion for spending and her constant need for love, Emma Bovary has become one of the greatest. and least conventional, heroines of fiction.
--back cover