A captivating and evocative work, Memoirs of a Madman is one of Flaubert's earliest writings, and forms the basis for his highly renowned L'Education Sentimentale.

As a young man looks back on the years that have brought him to ‘madness', he recalls the innocence of his boyhood and his fond belief that he was blessed with a mind of genius. Yet, painfully, wretchedly, he also recounts his all-too-sudden entry into the adult world. For the day he caught sight of a beautiful woman by the sea marked the end of his flamboyant philosophising, and the beginning of a tragic coming of age.

Gustave Flaubert is one of the undisputed masters of nineteenth-century fiction. A writer of remarkable narrative skill, profound psychological understanding and incredible sensitivity to detail...

(Hesperus Press Ltd)