Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, published in 1857 after a famous obscenity trial, is the novel that defined literary realism. Emma Bovary, a doctor’s wife in provincial Normandy, is consumed by romantic fantasies nourished by cheap fiction, and her pursuit of passion and luxury ends in ruin. Flaubert’s prose, polished to an almost inhuman precision, renders every detail of Emma’s world with devastating clarity.
Named by many critics as the first truly modern novel, Madame Bovary remains essential reading for anyone interested in literature. Download this public-domain English translation as a free EPUB.