She longed to rush into his arms, to take refuge in his strength as in the incarnation of perfect love, to cry aloud to him -- "Take me away!  Oh, take me away!"
Madame Bovary is the story of a beautiful young woman who marries a luckless and loutish country doctor. She attempts to escape the narrow confines of her life through a series of passionate affairs, hoping to find in other men the romantic ideal she has always dreamed of. Her recklessness comes back to haunt her, however, and the strong-willed and independent Emma finds herself in a desperate fight for existence.
Flaubert's daring depiction of adultery and sinfulness caused a national scandal when it was first published, and the author was put on trial for offending public morality. One hundred and fifty years later, this masterpiece of realist literature has lost none of its impact.