Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary by Gustave FlaubertFlaubert's erotically charged and psychologically acute portrayal of a married woman's affair caused a moral outcry on its publication in 1857. Its heroine, Emma Bovary, is stifled by provincial life as the wife of a doctor. An ardent devourer of sentimental novels, she seeks escape in fantasies of high romance, in voracious spending and, eventually, in adultery. But even her affairs bring her disappointment, and when real life continues to fail to

And younger generations continue to leave

alcoholics

'Ravishingly beautiful' Observer

Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she comes to represent

all explored in his inimitable prose and sardonic wit

Reilly: fat

Kenneth Grahame's enchanting children's classic in hardback

are upended one after the other: first

but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle - one of many which combine to create an elegant and dreamlike masterpiece

and can any man do more than that

'A fierce light

and readable overview of Irish history from the Protestant Reformation to the dawn of the twenty-first century Five centuries of Irish history are explored in this informative and accessible volume