Madame Bovary

Librarian note: Alternate cover editions for ISBN 1853260789 / 9781853260780 (1-85326-078-9 / 978-1-85326-078-0) are: Young Woman with a Small Veil (this edition record), Le Collier Vert, and The Death Bed of Madame Bovary. The names listed are the names of the paintings.

When Emma Rouault marries dull, provincial doctor Charles Bovary, her dreams of an elegant and passionate life crumble. She escapes into sentimental novels but finds her fantasies dashed by the tedium of her days. Motherhood proves to be a burden; religion is only a brief distraction. She spends lavishly and embarks on a series of disappointing affairs. Soon heartbroken and crippled by debts, Emma takes drastic action with tragic consequences for her husband and daughter. When published in 1857, Madame Bovary was embraced by bourgeois women who claimed it spoke to the frustrations of their lives. Davis's landmark translation gives new life in English to Flaubert's masterwork.