E.M. Forster

Howards End

E.M. Forster

The self-interested disregard of a dying woman’s bequest, an impulsive girl’s attempt to help an impoverished clerk, and the marriage between an idealist and a materialist—all intersect at a Hertfordshire estate called Howards End. The fate of this beloved country home symbolizes the future of England itself in E. M. Forster’s exploration of social, economic, and philosophical trends, as exemplified by three families: the Schlegels, symbolizing the idealistic and intellectual aspect of the upper classes; the Wilcoxes, representing upper-class pragmatism and…

A Passage to India

E.M. Forster

A classic novel about the misperceptions and misunderstandings that illustrate the divide between East and West, E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India is a masterpiece of twentieth century English fiction, and an important text for anyone interested in understanding the British involvement in colonial India.

A Room with a View

E.M. Forster

This Edwardian social comedy explores love and prim propriety among an eccentric cast of characters assembled in an Italian pensione and in a corner of Surrey, England.  A charming young English woman, Lucy Honeychurch, faints into the arms of a fellow Britisher when she witnesses a murder in a Florentine piazza.  Attracted to this man, George Emerson—who is entirely unsuitable and whose father just may be a Socialist—Lucy is soon at war with the snobbery of her class and her own conflicting desires.  Back in England she is courted by a more acceptable, if…