Madame Bovary

French writer Gustave Flaubert's debut novel (1856), called Madame Bovary, is about a doctor's wife whose adulterous affairs are meant to compensate for her banal life. However, this book truly shines through its minute details, and therein lies its true beauty. Flaubert was very demanding in his work and spent a lot of time searching for the proper word. When it was published first as a serial in the periodical La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, it became infamous, because of obscenity accusations by public prosecutors. The subsequent trial held in January 1857 made the story even more well known.