Salammbo

If you have read Flaubert's masterpiece Madame Bovary you will hardly recognize that the historical novel Salammbo is written by the same author. Whereas in the first book the French novelist focuses on the adulterous affairs of Emma Bovary as a means to escape the banal and empty provincial life, in Salammbo he depicts a rather unexplored period of history - Carthage immediately before and during the Mercenary Revolt in 3rd century BC. What unites both works of literature is Flaubert's astonishing writing style.