This exquisite novel tells the story of one of the most compelling heroines in modern literature—Emma Bovary. A bored provincial housewife, abandons her husband to pursue the libertine Rodolphe in a desperate love affair. A scandal in its day, Madame Bovary remains a powerful and scintillating novel. A brilliant psychological portrait, Madame Bovary searingly depicts the human mind in search of transcendence. The novel is considered Flaubert's masterpiece, as well as a seminal work of realism and one of the most influential novels ever written.