Madame Bovary

'Love, she thought, must come suddenly, with great outbursts and lightnings – a hurricane of the skies, which falls upon life, revolutionizes it, roots up the will like a leaf, and sweeps the whole heart into the abyss.' A powerful critique of romantic idealism, Madame Bovary is Flaubert's most famous work. Although controversial at the time of publication due to its 'obscenity', the novel became...