The bored wife of a bumbling provincial physician, Emma seeks to escape from the tedium of her life with romantic fantasies and adulterous affairs, but is ultimately doomed to disillusionment. Unable to come to terms with reality, Emma is a figure at once noble and banal, tragic and absurd. With her wrenching story, Flaubert forged an unforgettable classic that has remained one of the most admired and influential novels ever written. That peerless...