Books by and for independent women

Madame Bovary’s Daughter by Linda Urbach

When fictional heroines die, what happens to the characters they leave behind? This is the question posed by American author Linda Urbach in Madame Bovary’s Daughter, a ‘sequel’ to Gustave Flaubert’s classic French novel, Madame Bovary.

Berthe Bovary is the only child of Emma Bovary and her husband. When Charles Bovary dies, bankrupt and heartbroken, a few years after Emma’s suicide, young Berthe is packed off to her disapproving grandmother’s farm. Berthe later works in a cotton mill before becoming a lady’s maid in Paris, and discovering a heady world of sex and fashion.

Whereas Flaubert challenged romantic traditions, Urbach embraces them – albeit with a modern twist. Her Berthe is more independent than Emma, and thus should be more appealing to today’s readers. However, while Emma was a flawed heroine, this only emphasised her humanity. Flaubert later declared, ‘Madame Bovary, c’est moi.’

By contrast, Urbach’s Berthe is more Carrie Bradshaw than Emma Bovary – her goals, to succeed at love and in work, are ambitious, but grounded in reality.

With its frank depiction of adultery, Madame Bovary was one of the most scandalous books of the Victorian era, and was even the subject of an obscenity trial. Looking back on the period, Urbach is able to be far more explicit than Flaubert could, but the subject matter is no longer shocking.

Flaubert is considered a supreme prose stylist. Henry James wrote, ‘Madame Bovary has a perfection that not only stamps it, but that makes it stand almost alone; it holds itself with such a supreme unapproachable assurance as both excites and defies judgment.’

While Urbach’s technique does not rival Flaubert’s, and her tale is somewhat predictable, Madame Bovary’s Daughter has a well-paced plot and plenty of historical detail. Urbach works both characters from Flaubert and real-life figures from mid 19th-century France into her narrative.

Of these, the most effective is Jean-François Millet, an artist of rural life who uses the young Berthe as a model for his masterpiece, The Gleaners. However, Urbach’s portrayal of Charles Worth – ‘father of Haute Couture’ – is perhaps a little too broadly drawn.

Similarly, Rodolphe Boulanger – the wealthy businessman who took Emma Bovary as his mistress – reappears in villainous form. Whereas Flaubert allowed his readers to form their own opinions, Urbach pre-empts ours. Emma’s other love, the gentle Léon Dupuis, is barely mentioned.

Of the fictional characters, the childlike, self-absorbed Madame Rappelais is not unlike Flaubert’s Emma, though she is ultimately a grotesque figure. Berthe’s stint as a factory worker is vividly realised. However, her ‘kleptomaniac’ friend, Héléne, seems to have stepped out of Fagin’s gang.

A long-time admirer of French culture, Linda Urbach was spurred on by her interest in the broken link between Emma and Berthe. Urbach also runs writing workshops about the mother-daughter relationship from her MoMoirs website.

Madame Bovary’s Daughter is Linda Urbach’s third novel, and her storytelling skills are well-honed. While her tribute to Flaubert’s novel may inevitably pale in comparison to its predecessor, it is nonetheless an enjoyable, light read.

Published in July, Madame Bovary’s Daughter is available in paperback for £8.99, or £8.54 on Kindle.

Rating: 3/5

Recommended for: Readers of historical romance with a hint of spice.

Other recommended reading: Try Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White; Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet; or another literary spin-off, Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea.

Tara Hanks