Madame Bovary

At the bottom of her heart, however, she was waiting for something to happen. Like shipwrecked sailors, she turned despairing eyes upon the solitude of her life, seeking afar off some white sail in the mists of the horizon.

In northern France, a young medical professional named Charles Bovary marries, at the behest of his mother, an unpleasant yet wealthy widow. After visiting a rural patient, he meets an effervescent young lady named Emma. After Charles’s wife dies unexpectedly, he pursues and marries Emma, but soon Emma finds married life dull and uninteresting.

The focal point of the story, the eponymous Emma Bovary discovers a love for scandalous behavior with the few mysterious men entering and exiting her life. Published in 1856 as a serial, Madame Bovary created instant controversy with the nature and descriptions of infidelity within the story.