About this audiobook
What happens when the promise of romantic happiness becomes the measure of an ordinary life? Gustave Flaubert follows Emma Bovary, a young woman whose reading has shaped extravagant expectations of love. Her marriage to Charles and the routines of provincial life leave her restless. She imagines that a new attachment or a more luxurious way of living will finally give her existence the meaning she seeks.
As Emma pursues these hopes, her relationships grow more complicated and her financial position becomes increasingly precarious. Flaubert connects intimate disappointment with a wider portrait of a society preoccupied with appearances, status and money. His precise prose allows the reader to see both the force of Emma's longing and the illusions that sustain it.
The novel is suited to readers drawn to psychological realism, morally complex characters and an unflinching examination of desire, loneliness and the search for happiness.
