Sentimental Education

‘For certain men, the stronger their desire, the less likely they are to act…’


Based on Flaubert’s own youthful passion for an older woman, Sentimental Education reveals the astounding range, subtlety, artistry, and depth of a true original, Gustave Flaubert, author of Memoirs of a Madman, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, November, and countless other literary masterpieces.


Described by its author as “the history of a young man,” Sentimental Education describes the romantic adventures of Monsieur Frederic Moreau, a law student who, returning home to Normandy from Paris, is entranced by Madame Arnoux, a beautiful woman older than himself. 


It is the beginning of a passion that will last a lifetime. 


Moreau befriends her husband, an influential businessman, and as their paths cross and re-cross over the years, Madame Arnoux remains the unattainable love of Moreau’s life. 


Blending a classical love story, satire, and historical realism, Sentimental Education is one of the greatest French novels of the nineteenth century, offering a vivid and unsparing portrait of the young Frenchmen of his generation, struggling to salvage something of their ideals in a city where corruption and a pervasive sense of world-weariness undermine all but the most compromised.


Published in hundreds of editions and translated into virtually every modern language, it has not been out of print since 1869.


GUSTAVE FLAUBERT (1821–1880) was a French author widely considered to be one of the greatest novelists in Western literature.