Madame Bovary
French novelist, 1821–1880.
Madame Bovary is an 1856 novel by Gustave Flaubert, translated from French.
On 5 of the 10 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Gustave Flaubert
- First published
- Serialised 1856
- Length
- 335 pages (UK paperback)
- Original language
- Translated from French
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Love story, Psychological, Class and society
Is Madame Bovary worth reading?
5 of the 10 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian) and 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009) | No. 23 | See the list |
| Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs, 2002) | Listed | See the list |
| Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 63 | See the list |
| The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 10 | See the list |
| The 100 greatest novels of all time (The Observer, 2003) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of Madame Bovary
The edition we link to is the Penguin Classics paperback (2003), 335 pages, translated by Geoffrey Wall.
- Publisher
- Penguin Classics (paperback, 2003)
- Pages
- 335
- Translator
- Geoffrey Wall
- ISBN
- 9780140449129
How critics and readers rate Madame Bovary
Critics rate it most highly: it earned 94% of the points available on critics' lists, against 15% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like Madame Bovary
If you liked Madame Bovary, try Sentimental Education, Anna Karenina or Middlemarch.
