was first published in Paris in 1856. Emma Bovary, married to a boring Doctor with a medical practice in provincial Normandy, begins an affair with an unscrupulous landowner ...

When the novel was first serialized in La Revue de Paris in 1856, public prosecutors attacked the book for obscenity. The resulting trial in January 1857 made it notorious. After Flaubert's acquittal on 7 February 1857, Madame Bovary became a bestseller. A seminal work of literary realism, the novel is now considered one of the most influential literary works in history.

(12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist and the leading exponent of literary realism in 19th century France. He is known especially for his debut novel Madame Bovary (1857), his Correspondence, and his scrupulous devotion to style and aesthetics.