Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners (French: Madame Bovary : Mœurs de province), commonly known as simply Madame Bovary, is the début novel of French writer Gustave Flaubert, originally published in 1856 and 1857. The eponymous character, Emma Bovary, lives beyond her means in order to escape the ennui of provincial life.

When the novel was first serialised in Revue de Paris in 1856, public prosecutors attacked the novel for obscenity. The resulting trial made the story notorious. Following Flaubert's acquittal, Madame Bovary became a bestseller in 1857 when it was published in two volumes. A seminal work of literary realism, the novel is now considered ranked Flaubert's masterpieces, and one of the most influential literary works in history.