Madame Bovary is a novel written by Gustave Flaubert in 1856 and is considered by many critics to be a masterpiece.he storey focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. Though the basic plot is rather simple, even archetypal, the novel's true art lies in its details and hidden patterns.