# Elif Shafak’s novel reimagines Flaubert through the lives around him

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/in-one-brief-moment-all-eternity-by-elif-shafak-review-what-madame-bovary-thought-of-flaubert/
- Published: 2026-10-28T09:00:04+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-28T09:37:34+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/oct/28/in-one-brief-moment-all-eternity-by-elif-shafak-review-what-madame-bovary-thought-of-flaubert
- Topics: Americas, Culture, World

## Key points

- Shafak tells Flaubert’s story through 30 voices summoned by Emma Bovary.
- The novel examines his empathy and the limits of his portrayal of women.
- The reviewer praises its emotional scenes but finds some chapters fanciful.

## Summary

Elif Shafak’s new novel portrays Gustave Flaubert through the perspectives of women and other figures in his life, exploring the tension between his imaginative empathy and the charge that he treated women unfairly. The review presents the book as a love letter to literature, asking how writers can inhabit other lives while still limiting the characters they create.

Across 600 pages, Emma Bovary summons 30 voices, alternating with a third-person narrator; Shafak does not attempt to speak in Flaubert’s own voice. The reviewer praises her vivid depiction of Flaubert’s childhood and relationships, and finds the account of Jamilah the camel especially moving, while noting that some fanciful chapters may test readers’ patience.

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