A Room with a View – Unabridged English Classics (The Originals)

About The Book

It makes a difference doesn’t it, whether we fully fence ourselves in, or whether we are fenced out by the barriers of others? British writer E.M. Forster’s novel, A Room with a View (1908) revolves around Lucy Honeychurch, a young woman who lives in socially conservative Edwardian England. The story, set in Italy and England, is both a romance and a critique of English society in the early 1900s, when upper-middle class English women were starting to dream of leading more independent lives. Lucy’s journey to Italy with her prim and proper cousin, Charlotte Bartlett, is packed with adventure, romance, encounters with people from other cultures, and epiphanies. She falls in love with George Emerson during her stay in Italy, but back home in England, her fiancée is eagerly waiting for her return. Freedom and a whole range of possibilities beckon as Lucy tries to resolve the dilemma and build a new life for herself.

About E.M. Forster

Edward Morgan ForstEr (1879–1970), British novelist, essayist, short story writer and critic, was born at Marylebone, London. His architect father died when Forster was very young and he was brought up by his mother. Forster’s celebrated works include the novels A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910), A Passage to India (1924), and Maurice (1971) as well as a large corpus of criticism. Forster broke new ground by departing from the elaborate, flowery style of his predecessors and adopted a freer, more colloquial style in his books. His novels were seeped in social commentary, which was based on his in-depth observations of middle-class lives. He also had a deep-rooted interest in Mediterranean “paganism,” which called for humans to maintain their connection with the natural world and live a life attuned to the earth’s rhythms.