Her reading perfectly captures the restlessness of Emma Bovary, a character perpetually dissatisfied with her solid, steady husband and bourgeois life in provincial 19th-century France. Glenda Jackson hits the mark in this superb narration of Flaubert's classic novel. Who is Madame Bovary? Flaubert's answer to this question was superb: 'Madame Bovary, c'est moi.' Acclaimed as a masterpiece upon its publication in 1857, the work catapulted Flaubert to the ranks of the world's greatest novelists. A brilliant psychological portrait, Madame Bovary searingly depicts the human mind in search of transcendence.

But her sensuous and sentimental desires lead her only to suffering corruption and downfall. Unhappily married to a devoted, clumsy provincial doctor, Emma revolts against the ordinariness of her life by pursuing voluptuous dreams of ecstasy and love. This exquisite novel tells the story of one of the most compelling heroines in modern literature - Emma Bovary. 'Possibly the most beautifully written book ever composed undoubtedly the most beautifully written novel… a book that invites superlatives… the most important novel of the century.' -Frank O’Connor '‘Madame Bovary’ show Flaubert as the pioneer of our age, the portraitist and philosopher of the modern world.' -Émile Zola 'Stylistically it is prose doing what poetry is supposed to do.' -Vladimir Nabokov 'From the narrative point of view, the most perfect book is ‘Madame Bovary’ by Flaubert.' -Giorgio de Chirico

'Ever since ‘Madame Bovary’, the art of the novel has been considered equal to the art of poetry.' -Milan Kundera '‘Madame Bovary’ has a perfection that not only stamps it, but that makes it stand almost alone: it holds itself with such a supreme unapproachable assurance as both excites and defies judgment.' -Henry James

Free for apple download Madame Bovary