Madame Bovary : provincial morals

A NEW TRANSLATION BY ADAM THORPE‘A great novel that is also an inexhaustible pleasure to read' GuardianEmma Bovary is an avid reader of sentimental novels; brought up on a Normandy farm and convent-educated, she longs for romance.

At first, Emma pins her hopes on marriage, but life with her well-meaning husband in the provinces leaves her bored and dissatisfied.

She seeks escape through extravagant spending sprees and, eventually, adultery.

As Emma pursues her impossible reverie she seals her own ruin.

Madame Bovary is one of the greatest, most beguiling novels ever written. ‘Thorpe's new translation is stunning and heartily recommendedScotsman‘Thorpe's new translation is to die for’Independent‘[Thorpe’s] hard work has yielded beauty.

The rhythms are perfectly judged, unexpected enough to make the reader attend to every word’Robert Chandler, TLS