Madam Bovary

... for her, life was as cold as an attic with a window looking to the north, and ennui, like a spider, was silently spinning its shadowy web, in every cranny of her heart. Married to Charles, a provincial doctor, Emma Bovary yearns for a more glamorous life. Disenchanted with her devoted and dependable husband and seeking an escape from their dull marriage she is soon lured into romantic liaisons and tempted by the finer things in life. Considered scandalous in mid-19th century French society, Emma Bovary's superficial and immoral behaviour shocked readers and caused moral outcry. Flaubert holds up to ridicule not ony Madame Bovary herself, but the society that dares to judge her.